Podcasts about Gorf

CLL #2534 (feat. The Love Between The Two Hosts) 06/15/2005 – Wednesday Night Show Source – Tucker Stream Recording (2025)  This episode is 100% complete with a medium audio upgrade. This episode features a GorF and some memorable callers. The Love Between The Two Hosts – CLL on Youtube, with Video for select episodes. https://adamanddrdrewshow.com/1743-loveline-nostalgia-with-superfan-giovanni/ https://account.venmo.com/u/GiovanniGiorgio Paid Link – As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Music Provided by Rich Banks Check out His Website and Soundcloud to hear more of his awesome work and perhaps commission him for your next project. Venmo

At any given Blood Bowl Tournament, can the Cool Guys offset the Shitbags? Also, why doesn't Xtreme think Da 40 Minrs need Pep Talks anymore? DORF or CHORF status, can you Slunk Out of Chaos Cup and say hi to Mickey instead?  Xtreme CG Rating of +3, Jonny P thinks he's at +15 but probably +7 We talk Cabbage in the Graveyard, and then we move to the Gorf of Amorica to talk Chaos Cup and even Narth Amorica! (am I doing the parody names right?) - maybe a stop in Tornado, Oh-die-o for Bounty Bowl. Bring your pieces! And a ZLURPCAST EXCLUSIVE about something that may be available at the Zlurpee Bowl store!

CLL #2441 (feat. The Love Between The Two Hosts) 02/06/2005 – Sunday Night Show Source – Tucker Stream Recording (2024) with Fan Stream Recording (2005) Patches This episode is 100% complete with a Major audio upgrade, This episode features GORF, the stripper DJ bit and heavy Super Bowl talk with a cameo from Bald Bryan. The Love Between The Two Hosts – CLL on Youtube, with Video for select episodes. https://adamanddrdrewshow.com/1743-loveline-nostalgia-with-superfan-giovanni/ Paid Link – As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Music Provided by Rich Banks Check out His Website and Soundcloud to hear more of his awesome work and perhaps commission him for your next project. Venmo

The Intellivisionaries are back with two... yes TWO game reviews!  We dig deep into Death Race and GORF, two arcade ports for our beloved console.  There is the normal shenanigans as well as news of the community and an interview with author Jamie Lendino. 00:00:00 Welcome /  "Intellivisionaries Theme (2023 remix)" by Paul 'Nurmix' Nurminen 01:07:10 News 02:37:16 Interview: Jamie Lendino 04:00:54 Deep Dive Game Review: Death Race 04:33:28 Deep Dive Game Review: GORF 05:39:35 Wrap Up / "Treasured (2023 remix)" by Paul 'Nurmix' Nurminen 05:41:42 Outtakes / "Modern Digital Corporate Tech" by TazDev_music, pixabay

Matt's favourite game ;)

Today's Talmud page, Bava Metzia 49, discusses whether your intentions and your actions should match in business dealings. Comic book creator and cartoonist Jordan B. Gorfinkel, aka Gorf, joins us to to discuss whether only our actions need to be good, or do our intentions matter as well. Also, he shares his attempt to use the power of Batman to rescue some of the hostages that have been held by Hamas for over 6 months. Finally, he also shares with us a song for Passover! What kind of talmudic superhero are you? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet's podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

The Splatbook Players present: Wraith Curse of the Night Sword, Part 2. Being an actual play of The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying   for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. Featuring Jess Rhiannon the Ranger "Telconiel", Kenny Webb as "Gorf" the dwarven story teller, John Corey as the Bardling "Ulfar", and Kyle Latino as The Loremaster. Wraithcurse of the Nightsword is an original scenario developed by Kyle Latino. The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game for 5E was adapted from The One Ring RPG 2nd Ed by Michele Garbuggio. The One Ring RPG 2nd Ed was created by Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi. Published by Free League Press. All based on the work of J.R.R TolkienLord of the Rings RoleplayingFree League PublishingMusic for this Episode by Francis RobertsCalvinballContact Us!splatbookpod@gmail.comThe Splatphone!Map Crow YouTubeMap Crow PatreonThe Cloud CurioRoll For Topic

The Splatbook Players present: Wraith Curse of the Night Sword, Part 1. Being an actual play of The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying  for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. Featuring Jess Rhiannon the Ranger "Telconiel", Kenny Webb as "Gorf" the dwarven story teller, John Corey as the Bardling "Ulfar", and Kyle Latino as The Loremaster. Wraithcurse of the Nightsword is an original scenario developed by Kyle Latino. The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game for 5E was adapted from The One Ring RPG 2nd Ed by Michele Garbuggio. The One Ring RPG 2nd Ed was created by Francesco Nepitello and Marco Maggi. Published by Free League Press. All based on the work of J.R.R TolkienLord of the Rings RoleplayingFree League PublishingMusic for this Episode by Frances RobertsCalvinballContact Us!splatbookpod@gmail.comThe Splatphone!Map Crow YouTubeMap Crow PatreonThe Cloud CurioRoll For Topic

For nearly a decade, Gorf managed a team of writers, artists, and creators on the Batman franchise for DC Comics, producing more than 2000 stories in multiple mediums. Gorf is known for conceiving and creating iconic Batman stories such as Batman: No Man's Land and Birds Of Prey. Those stories have since been adapted to TV Shows (Gotham, Birds of Prey) feature films (The Dark Knight Rises, Birds of Prey), and countless others. In this episode, Gorfinkel explains his ascension in the DC Comics ranks and discusses working in comics when the medium was at an apex in popularity. The episode begins with a tribute to the late Arleen Sorkin, the original voice of Harley Quinn on Batman: The Animated Series, who passed away at the age of 67. For more information on Gorf, visit Gorfy.com. Follow Jordan on all forms of social media @jewishcartoon.

In Episode 8, we learn about the Judaism of Batman! Learn from special guest Jordan B. “Gorf” Gorfinkel, former manager of the Batman franchise for DC comics, whose creations, such as Batman: No Man's Land and Birds Of Prey, have resulted in critically acclaimed and commercially successful publications (Birds Of Prey, the most successful female superhero team franchise in history), film (Birds Of Prey, The Dark Knight Rises), television series, games, merchandise and more. More recently, Gorf created, wrote, and produced the Amazon #1 Bestseller Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel, and Gorf is now working with Koren Publishers to produce the entire Hebrew Bible in graphic novel form Listen in to learn about Judaism according to Gorf, and Batman through a Jewish lens. If you're in the tri-state area, be sure to come to Temple B'nai Abraham (tbanj.org) to learn with Gorf on February 2 and 3, 2024. For more on Gorf, go to gorfy.com and jewishcartoon.com.

Ever wondered why The Tragically Hip never quite cracked the American market? Can being "too Canadian" be a legitimate reason? Join jD, Pete, and Tim, as they delve into these questions and more, in an episode that's all about the legendary Canadian band and renowned producer, Bob Rock. We examine Rock's impactful legacy, his ground-breaking record with The Hip, and why their unique Canadian-ness may have been a double-edged sword in the American music scene.This week, we immerse ourselves in The Hip's 10th studio album, dissecting the distinctive sonic footprint that Bob Rock has imprinted on each track. Hear our candid first reactions, our deep dives into the lyrics' amalgamation of quantum physics, Plato, and God, and how a short hiatus from the album breathed new life into jD's perspectives. From the booming drums akin to Stuart Copeland and Neil Peart's style to the raw, gritty sounds of hip drums, we leave no stone unturned in our exploration of this musical masterpiece.And just when you think we've hit peak musical analysis, think again! We round up our episode with a thoughtful examination of the album's themes of touring and corporate radio. We also give you our take on The Hip's Austin City Limits performance and an exciting, upcoming event in Toronto that promises to echo the essence of a live Tragically Hip experience. To top it all off, we take a side trip to Salt Lake City, diving into its cultural diversity and have a little fun contemplating a world where weed is legal in Utah. So, buckle up for a fun-filled, music-centric journey into the heart of Canadian musicTrack ListingYer not the Ocean - Studio versionIn View - Live from Abbotsford 2009The Kids Don't Get It - Live from Oshawa 2013Last Night I Dreamed that you didn't love Me - Live from Montreal 2006TranscriptTrack 1:[0:00] Well welcome to getting hip to the hip I'm here as always with Pete and Tim and we are checking out for the first time a new hip record every week we do this and we have a lot offun doing it so this week I gave you the 10th studio record produced by famous Canadian producer Bob Rock Bob Rock Bob Ross right he's born for a job part of me make wishes I wasthat guy right hair and everything all the bands he's worked with just oh my god didn't Lambert four Four-wheel drive Lamborghini, like jacked wheels and everything. Track 2:[0:48] Four-wheel drive Lamborghini. Track 3:[0:49] Sorry. Track 1:[0:54] No, don't be sorry. Track 3:[0:57] Let's talk about him a little bit though, because he's done some major bands, right? Track 1:[1:02] Yeah, really. Track 3:[1:03] I mean, wow. That guy's portfolio is quite large. Track 1:[1:09] Like from the mid 80s to the mid 90s he was like, literally. Worked with everybody in rock. Track 3:[1:18] Everybody who's making money. Track 1:[1:20] Yeah. Track 3:[1:21] He went as well. Track 2:[1:22] His last name is Rock. Track 3:[1:23] I know. That's why I kind of wish I was him for that era. Track 2:[1:27] Jeez, dude. Track 3:[1:29] Bon Jovi, Offspring. Track 1:[1:31] He's not as good as the producer Michael Indy. Oh. Track 3:[1:35] Oh, look at that. Track 2:[1:36] Yeah. Track 3:[1:39] No, but seriously, Bob Rock, he was all over the place. He even helped out Cher. But 311, Skid Row, Motley Crue. I mean, this guy. Track 2:[1:48] Which 311 record? Because Grassroots is just, that was a breakthrough, man. I don't know. Track 3:[1:58] I'm not a fan. I didn't know that one. I'd be curious. Track 2:[2:01] Their later stuff, it wasn't. But I bet he's a big Bob Seger fan. Track 3:[2:06] I'm sure. He's sounded pretty significant with Metallica. I was wondering if you, If that rang a bell for you, Mr. Pete. Yeah. Track 2:[2:18] I mean, is this his first record that he's produced with The Hip? Track 1:[2:22] This is the first one. He does two. He does the next two back to back, which they seem to, that seems to be what they do. You know, they work with the producer and then, and thenwork with him again. And it's worked, you know, on a couple of occasions. Track 2:[2:39] Oh, man, yeah, he's got a fucking dude this guy's got a He's got the hair and everything. Track 3:[2:45] She's yeah got a rap sheet. I almost Almost crushing on him Ryan Adams, right? Track 1:[2:51] Yeah, So there was there was great anticipation I think amongst Maybe not the diehard hip fans because the diehard hip fans were gonna we're gonna buy the record regardless andenjoy it regardless. but that that outer fringe that that had been listening the people like me uh that had been had been diehards but had in in between evolution despite you guys really liking it was a recordthat was divisive for me at the time uh i was just listening to other things and you know that's that's all there was to it so um i think that um i've lost my point because i was watchingJessica in the back and she's distracted. Track 2:[3:46] Thanks, Jessica. Geez. Track 1:[3:49] Geez Louise. Oh yeah, the outer fringes like me were thinking, well, Bob Rock knows how to produce a hit record. Maybe this will be the one. You know what I mean? That's like, that's going to bring me back and bring back. I don't know why I was so concerned with their success in the States. I reallydon't. It's, it's, it's pointless. Track 2:[4:14] I feel like it is something that is just fucking ingrained in you Canadians. I mean, I, it's like this, I don't know what it is. I think it's so stupid, but I get it, but I don't get it. I'm just like, why didn't we break through? Why haven't they broken through? Why do you want Americans to like you so much? Guess what? Americans aren't all that fucking great. Take it from one who is one. Track 3:[4:38] In half of us are fucking idiots if not more not more these days, I mean, there's a lot of reproduction happening We're probably towards 60% now. Just I would say Yeah Yeah, you know when I walk down the street I'm like Just ready Let's go No, but but you know I asked the bot, the AI bot, why the hip never broke through acrossthe border other than Detroit and where? or upstate New York, wherever they were playing. And the bot was like... This is my bot voice, it doesn't really exist this way, but the bot was like, They were just too Canadian. Track 1:[5:16] Oh, really? Track 3:[5:19] Yeah, that was a serious point from the bot that people thought that maybe they were just too Canadian. And I thought, wow. Track 1:[5:26] Okay. I don't even know what that means. Track 3:[5:30] Well, because a lot of the content is Canada-themed stuff, you know? Track 1:[5:37] Yeah, but it's not in your face unless somebody points it out. Track 3:[5:43] I mean, that was one explanation. Track 1:[5:46] Yeah, I hear it. Track 3:[5:48] Just content of lyrics. Track 2:[5:50] I mean, if that was the case, for crying out loud, dude, Rick Moranis and John Candy would have never been accepted into popular culture in the United States. That can't be it. Yeah, wrong. Track 3:[6:04] Maybe so because I was thinking, what about the boss? You know, or, I mean, all these artists that sell out concerts around the world. Yeah, was Bruce Springsteen to American? God forbid. Track 2:[6:19] Yeah, a little too American for me. Definitely. Track 3:[6:22] By the way, those blue jeans, pretty handsome. Wow. Track 2:[6:27] And you mentioned Metallica, Tim and JD. He didn't just produce Metallica, but the Black Album. Track 1:[6:35] The Black Album. Track 2:[6:36] Yeah. The one that like, I mean, say what you want about Metallica. I mean, I like a chunk of their stuff. I have a connection because James Hetfield went to my high school. You know? Track 1:[6:49] We know that from episode two. Track 2:[6:52] Do we know that from episode two? Track 3:[6:54] We do. I found this other podcast where it was really hidden inside iTunes, and it's about Pete getting beat up by James Heffield, like he returns to speak at the school and singles outPete. I don't know. I heard that. He said they met at the end, but... Track 2:[7:12] I've never seen the guy, never met the guy, but no, that record was pivotal. I mean, that's where they went from heavy metal band to worldwide, like if you go to another planet, people heard of Metallica. Track 1:[7:27] So here's, here's, this is exactly my point. My point is they had, they had four or five really great records before that, that Metallica fans cleave to and absolutely adore. And Metallica would have had a great career with, with, with just, you know, if they hadn't released the Black Album, they would have had a good career, you know, on the backs of thosefive records. But they did release the Black Album and Bob Rock did produce that record. So there was a thought in my head that maybe the same thing could happen with my band. And that's ridiculous and arbitrary and it ultimately I know doesn't matter, But I think that that's where it came from. Track 3:[8:10] So JD, you mentioned this album wasn't all that for you. Is that what happened? Or what was your reaction when it came out? You said you were late to it? Track 1:[8:20] Yeah, I didn't really get into this record as a fan until I really gave it a bunch of time. And that was when we did the Fully and Completely podcast. I gave it quite a bit of time. And I ended up appreciating it. it. To me, it's an interpretation of a Tragically Hip album, and it's not one that I think is the best interpretation of a Tragically Hip album, but there's some real highlights on it. There's somereal highlights on it. Track 3:[8:59] Do you mean to say it personifies a Tragically Hip album? Is that what you mean by that? Track 1:[9:06] No, because that would mean I would be be making it a person, and calling it by name and things like that. And in this case, what I'm doing... Track 2:[9:15] Okay, you're not buying it a beard, dude. Okay, you're not taking it home, dude. Track 3:[9:20] We're gonna cut that out. No, I'm joking, I'm joking. But with that, did this album kind of represent to you, like, this is a great hip album, it checks boxes? Track 1:[9:32] Or what do you mean by that statement? No, I mean, it's an interpretation of a hip record. A hip hop record to me has backing vocals that I can hear that are Paul Langlois and GordSinclair doing the backup vocals. It's got... Track 2:[9:47] Are they not singing backup on this one? Track 1:[9:49] They are, but it's just mixed differently. It's like you don't hear them the same way. There's like gang vocals on this record. It's true. Track 3:[9:57] It is a little different. Track 1:[9:59] It's just, it's a little bit odd. It's like walking into a room that you're really familiar in, but you have like a feeling like something is off. Like, am I in the same dimension? You know? Track 2:[10:14] It's like when Howard, the duck landed on earth and, and, and thought he was like just home until he saw the first human. Right. Track 3:[10:22] Exactly like that. I mean, that's what I was thinking. Yeah, like yeah. Track 1:[10:27] Yeah, so we gotta we gotta blame Bob Brock for that then That's where I'm going with this Yeah, and he get like I say he gets two stabs at it and this is this is his first stab Yeah, andthere's a lot to like, you know, I don't know. Track 2:[10:39] Should we get into the song by song or We should yeah, we should and when we do I want to I want to kind of comment on what you said JD Because I feel like there's a reason. Track 3:[10:50] Let's keep going with it. Let's keep going. Track 1:[10:51] Yeah, let's go. Track 2:[10:53] Well, I was just gonna say, I hear you when you say I know what you mean by you say it's a hip album personified. Because it's different. It's like, it's a hit, but you're like, something's, it's a little bit like Black Mirror-ish. It's like, is there something I'm missing right now? Yeah, something feels weird. I feel that, you know, it's funny, I got to think to myself, like, what do the members of the hip think? Because like, when they hear, if they were to be flies on the wall in this conversation, because, you know, they all listen week over week. This is a fact, we know this. No, but like, for them, it's probably, I mean, maybe there were some things different, but they're just like, what the fuck is this guy talking about? Track 3:[11:35] They were out front of my house this morning. They were just like, they're hoping to get a glimpse. Track 2:[11:41] Pitchforks? For the first two episodes? With their machetes. Yeah, Jesus. But I feel you, dude. I feel you completely. I do. There's something, not off, but like, as the listener, it just, like, you'll see it when we start talking about the song. I'll point out a few things where I'm just like, yeah, it's saying exactlywhat you just said, JDS. Track 1:[12:06] So where did you guys listen to this record the first time? Track 3:[12:09] Man, I after we last recorded I had a garage project to do and I brought a speaker out there and Got in my zone and just cranked it up and out the gates. I was like, oh this is gonna be Maybe a really fun album and then even during the first song I had I paused it several times and I was distracted and I had Things going on so I did likerestart the album and restart the album restart the album and that has not happen to me with my listenings. So, this one just out the gate for me it was like... all these things were happening but ultimately with the first song i was kind of like whoa what do i think of this it's it was i was a little bit perplexed so yeah after that of course just all thetypical stuff of how i listened to albums just all over the place i really gave this one a lot of time and at one point was like i need to hear this on vinyl i want to hear what's going on withthis album because it was a little bit different and I wasn't necessarily wanting to buy it on vinyl because it's like my favorite one yet. I don't know, I just, I was a little perplexed by this album. Track 1:[13:22] Yeah, yeah. It can be perplexing, yeah. Track 3:[13:27] I was overwhelmed. How about you, Pete? Track 2:[13:33] I did something a little different with this record which was actually good and not to my own even knowing that I was doing it. But I listened to it, I think I first listened to it was inthe car. But second of all, I did some heavy listening right off the bat and then I took a fat break because I was doing other stuff and was busy and I couldn't listen to anything. So I came back to it, revisited it and it gave me a whole new perspective on what the record, what it was, like really, really cool. I mean, it was totally unplanned, but I think when you like, when you start listening to a record and then just listen a bunch over a week straight, nonstop, or like, like regularly, you don't,you look at it one way, but when you listen to it for a bit, and then you put it down and then you come back to it, you have a different perspective than I certainly did. Track 1:[14:32] Interesting. Can't wait to hear more about that. Okay, well let's jump into track by track then. We start out with, you're not the ocean. Track 3:[14:48] Man, you're not coming in. You're not coming in. This song is, it's, well, at one point I was like, Pete's belting this out in the car for this chorus, for sure. So I was trying it too, you know. I love Gord's, whatever he does at the kind of end there. It's a big song. I thought, you know, there's a few songs on this album where I'm like, this is amazing for karaoke. And this song is just big. It's a big singer that way. Is it a breakup song? Is it about death? Or is it like drowning? I read a little bit on it. And there was a lot of Ontario Lake references. You know, it's this, this was kind of, this for me was kind of a word song talking about lots of stuff. Track 1:[15:43] They're called the Great Lakes, Tim. Track 3:[15:43] The Great Lakes, sorry. It was specific to Ontario Lake because, for this song, supposedly, because all those lakes send all their, you know, garbage down into Ontario, which is themost polluted out of the greats. So is it the least great? I don't know. It's somewhat of repetitive song. I like the piano add in. there's piano, like first song I'm hearing. Track 2:[16:08] A lot of piano on this record. Track 3:[16:09] Yeah, a lot of piano, I mean that was, I don't know if that was some Bon Jovi influence in there or something. Anyways, the guitar riff feels a little added, like, you know, like weput extra icing on the cake. Yeah, it was, this is a big song for me. Big chorus. Holy cow. Let's scream it together on three. You guys ready? Just kidding. It's a big one. It's a big opener. Track 2:[16:41] Yeah, I mean, I think this song is, the best way I can put it, summing up in a sentence, this is fastball down the middle, tragically hip. Like when I heard this song, it was just, just, I knew what I was listening to. It sounded like the hip. To me, it was like, and I didn't really dig into Bob Rock prior to the record, but it's like somebody went into the safe in Gord Downie's house, pulled out theformula that is for writing hip songs and fucking followed it and then folded it back up, put it in an envelope, put it in the safe and locked it. Because this song is fucking formulaic, tragically hip. Not in a bad way, in a really cool way. I loved it. I loved Gord's vocals. I love when he gets really high and goes like an octave up. You're not the ocean. And then he goes, you're not. It gets really, it's just, dude, yeah. Track 3:[17:42] And the wolf. Track 2:[17:42] A lot of wolves on this record, man. And it's just, it feels really like, going back to what you said about this record being a hip record personified, it feels like this record wasmanufactured to feel safe and familiar for hip fans. For people to like press play on the first one and just be like, okay, all right, my boys are back. Okay, cool. Okay, cool. Track 1:[18:11] Yeah, I can't hardly disagree with you. Like, I can't. Track 2:[18:15] Just the vibe that I got, you know. Track 3:[18:18] My vibe was kind of like, are we trying to get an older crowd? It didn't feel young to me. I don't know. Track 2:[18:27] Well, this is what, almost 20 years on, right, JD? Track 3:[18:30] Right, exactly. So, you know, fans are getting on in their years. Just hold another conversation. Yeah. The Lonely End of the Rink. So this one I thought was just remarkable in that it could be about Gord and his brother, or Gord or his brother individually, and hockey. And I mean, this is the hockey song, right? Track 1:[18:57] Yeah. Track 3:[18:57] They play the song at games? Track 1:[19:00] I'm sure they do. I'm sure they do. Track 3:[19:03] Yeah. Yeah. This to me was like, you know, the bot said maybe they were too Canadian. I don't I don't know. They play hockey in different countries. Track 1:[19:10] That's right. Track 3:[19:12] But not being a hockey guy, but being a father of two dudes and thinking about brothers, I kind of dug it. The beginning kind of guitar riff start feels like we're getting into an anthem song for me right away, like that guitar at the beginning. Track 1:[19:33] Yeah, this song is written to be played live for sure. Track 3:[19:36] Yeah, the drum and the bass is just super charging. There's this echoey, Pete, if you remember, this is echoey guitar. 100%. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. So I've heard that from a few bands, but the first time, actually, Amy and I were in the car and I played the song for her and I said, what does thisechoed out guitar remind you of? Well, I don't know, because there's a few, there's a few, But she said, Duran Duran, this is from Duran Duran. Oh my God, what were these guys listening to on tour? I think they werelistening to anything and everything. I think. Track 1:[20:14] I think they were probably pretty. Track 3:[20:16] I would love to know. Track 1:[20:17] Pretty loose about what they listened to. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Track 2:[20:20] My money. Track 3:[20:22] That was, what was yours? Track 2:[20:23] No, my money would be that they were, I mean, this says Unforgettable Fire by U2 written all over. Oh, completely. Unforgettable Fire, that whole, like the records just, I was, I was just like, this is, this is... Track 3:[20:39] With like a sprinkle of Robert Plant. I don't know. Track 2:[20:44] There's something else. Track 3:[20:45] There's something else here. Track 2:[20:46] But the thing that was so surprising for me on this song was the drums. Like, Johnny Faye's drums, like, I don't know if it's Bob Rock. I don't know what, but like, I mean, I knew the guy's a good drummer, but this fucking song, all of a sudden he's fucking Stuart Copeland or Neil Peart. Like, what the fuck? Like, I mean, dude, like the drum work is just ridiculous. Track 1:[21:12] He's great. Track 3:[21:13] I agree. I thought at one point the drums on this album were maybe the most raw hip. I don't know, it just that to me was kind of, thank God the drums are that way on this album. If they were polished into like a fucking Bentley or something, Bobby Rock-ish, can we call him Bobby? Track 1:[21:36] You can, you're tight. Track 3:[21:37] That might piss him off if he hears this. Yeah. But yeah, the drums on, I think, throughout were killing it on this album. Track 2:[21:46] But if JD told me, if JD told me, oh, you know, one note about this record, beside it being produced by Bob Rock, Johnny Faye does not play Jones on this. It's just, they have another genre for whatever reason. I would just be like, Oh yeah, that makes sense. Like, and it's not a knock on Johnny Faye. I've just never heard any fucking thing like this from him. Like nothing, nothing. Track 3:[22:05] Yeah. Track 2:[22:07] Nothing. Track 3:[22:08] Almost like he was angry. Do you kind of feel that? Track 2:[22:10] Oh, yeah. Track 3:[22:11] Like, yeah, like not, not hyped about the, maybe the recording process. I don't know. There There was something different on his drums. Track 2:[22:17] Yeah, dude, there's some anger in there. There's some, yeah, all the cool licks. There's an acoustic lick in there and some harpsichord-style effect. But I thought of you, Tim, because there's no, like for a song this grand, they didn't fade it. They ended it, which is cool. Track 1:[22:34] It's true. Track 2:[22:35] Don't fade this shit, man. Fuck it all up. Track 3:[22:37] The momentum of it is really fun, kind of that charging, drumming momentum of the song. It's like, a few songs on this album are kind of locomotive feeling, like they just getgoing, you know? And I think that matches up with part of, at least some, you know, a chunk of the lyrics of this song of joining, oh to join the rush, you know? With Gord's voice just kind of climbing, oh to join the rush! It's fucking great. This was, as comparatively to the prior one, this one I was like, ah, people must, the Canucks must love the song live. Track 1:[23:16] Look at you representing the Pacific Northwest. What's your team called? There's a trivia question. What's your team called? You don't even know. Track 3:[23:27] Dude, I don't follow sports. It's not in my head. Track 1:[23:30] The answer is the Kraken. The Kraken. Track 3:[23:34] I don't even know that. And it makes me laugh because it's ridiculous. You could have, you could have made up like the green zebra tomatoes. You know, I wouldn't have known any better. Track 2:[23:46] Geez. Track 1:[23:48] All right, we go way out of the hips, normal lane, with this next track in view. What did you guys think of this left turn? Track 2:[24:04] You want to take it, Tim? Track 3:[24:06] I mean, I'm just scrolling through the lyrics here. It's really simple. The drums at the beginning of this one, okay, here's more drum notes, are really kind of big and strong and then it softens up. It kind of softens up. Like the song to me, the rest of the music didn't really match the way the drums start which is I'm sure purpose I'm done on purpose but it's like whoa where is thissong shifting to it's it's like felt kind of cute there's keys in the background you know I was like phone rings once phone rings twice phone links three times you know it just felt like Is thiskind of a cash grab radio hit? What is going on here? But you know, of course, I read a little bit about it. And there's like, references to quantum physics and Plato and Gorf's, Gorf's, Gord's believe in God. So, like, is he calling on the Lord? This song confused me. I'm just, if that's not obvious by now. I just wasn't really sure. Track 2:[25:26] Everybody's confused with you now and then. Track 3:[25:30] It's super fun to get into and sing through. Track 1:[25:34] It's fun, but then those lyrics are sort of dark, aren't they? Like, I mean, I've been meaning to call you, I've been meaning to call you, then I do. So this person, for whatever reason, has been meaning to call this other person, and it hasn't called them, then finally does, and the phone ring once, phone rings twice, the phone ringsthree times, and then what? They don't answer? It goes to voicemail? Like what? Like, oh my God. Track 3:[26:04] I mean, if they were calling the Lord, they might still be waiting. Who knows? Track 2:[26:10] Yeah, I don't know that they have voicemail in heaven. I've not been there myself. Track 3:[26:16] Look at that, Jesus doesn't have an iPhone. Wouldn't that be awesome? He'd be so big. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure who they were calling or what this one's about. It's kind of fun, but I was like, eh, what's next? But what about you, Mr. P? Track 2:[26:30] I mean, was this a single, by the way, Genie? Track 1:[26:33] I believe this was. Let me just quickly take a look. Track 3:[26:37] It felt damn written. Track 1:[26:39] The first single. Yeah, I mean. Track 3:[26:41] Yeah, there you go. There you go. Track 2:[26:43] I hear you guys with the lyrics and I've been, I think at a certain point, when it comes to The Hip, I've come to appreciate their lyrics so much because Gord's great at what he does. There were a couple times early on when I was digging into lyrics, I started to give them too much weight and it started to sway my opinion of the song, which is fucking stupid becausemusic is not supposed to do that. I mean, yeah, it is in a certain way, but if you really like something and then you dig into the lyrics, like when you dig into the lyrics of the song, fucking, I'll be watching you by the policeand you really know what it's about. No one's gonna fucking like that song and play it at their wedding. It's a creepy ass song, right? But if you kind of step away from it, and you look at it in a different light, you just listen to the melody of it. It's fucking it's a beautiful song. This song is a fucking banger. It's an absolute toe tapper. I loved it. I was fucking that the fucking keyboards. [27:50] I mean, I just was Happy as a pig in shit listening to this. Yeah, I couldn't remove this perfect pop song I am a sucker for a pop song and I make no fucking bones about it man. You know, you give me a pop song That is just pure bubblegum and rock candy and I will just be like where do I sign? This is this is this is one and I just I mean, I loved, loved, loved it. Loved it. Loved it. I think Go ahead. Track 3:[28:25] No, you go. Track 2:[28:28] I was jumping into No, I just I think it's a song like this. It's easy for any hardcore hit fan to be like, fuck that they sold out or whatever. Like, he's such a fucking asshole about it. Excuse my language. But dude, you know what, if I'm any one of those fucking dudes in the band, they probably had a blast recording this. They probably had a shit ton of fun fucking playing it live, becausepeople just fucking dance to it. And it's fun. And anybody who says anything coarse about it, go fuck themselves. That's my piece. Sorry. I guess I'm fucking myself. Track 3:[29:02] So what about this? What about this? I love these lines, right? What about these lines right here? Day erasers dark of night excited states gone in plain sight under the wave or by cave light i lose things change but never in your eyes i mean that's the loaded bit of this song at the endbut you're just going through and you're it's it's nuts to me like i'm i'm hearing the song i'm singing the chorus like you can sing along to this one right even on first listen if you're a megafan you're probably like yes, phone rings once, phone rings twice. And then this Dark Eraser's Dark of Night happens, and it's like, whoa, Gord's throwing the dagger at the wheel at the end here. Track 2:[29:51] Maybe he's just getting shit to rhyme and to fit the song too. I mean, you also don't, that's why I don't, I give, unless somebody's, unless it's like really obvious or whatever, I just try not to give lyrics that much weight because it could ruin a song. I could see if I dig into the lyrics of the song, which I did not, Tim, it would've fucking ruined it for me. I just choose to be like, oh, that's, you know. It is what it is, you know, because it's that's that's another thing because Gord's lyrics are so They're like, you know 30% THC in the CBD like dude you one drop and you're fucking done. So you got to be careful with it it's really potent and And and I I I take his lyrics with a grain of salt because otherwise like all the dude the And the Chani Wenjack shit, dude, if I reallystart digging in and thinking about that, it gets me like depressed and like super pissed off and like, yeah, you know, it does bring attention to it, which is great. But like, if I can't, I can't hold that as close to my heart as I do with some songs, because it just will fucking wreck me. Track 3:[31:15] I guess I'm kind of in the middle like I look into them to a certain degree and I either go all the way, which rarely happens or I kind of stop halfway up the hill, you know, but myone of my favorite things lyrics wise on this one is just his use of the USA calling the USA, the excited states. I think that's what that is and it just made me forever want to call where I'm from the The excited states, the excited states, because it's so true. It's like pew, pew, we're ready. Track 1:[31:49] Oh my God. Track 3:[31:50] We're so excited all the time. Excited in schools, churches, everywhere we go, we're excited country. So that, I mean, it's a packed song. It's simple, but it's, yeah, let's just keep moving. Track 1:[32:05] So the next song that we have to discuss then is Fly, which is our first song that we've heard that isn't a single. Track 2:[32:17] I think this song is, the placement of it is perfect because you've got these three fucking just monsters before and then it kind of brings it down. To me, I felt like it was, I'm in a bar in Alaska. And it's cold out. But when you get inside, it's nice and warm and toasty. And there are mugs of beer and there's a jukebox. And like, it's a romantic comedy. Track 3:[32:48] A pair of glowing thighs. Track 2:[32:50] Totally, man. I'm telling you, man. Track 3:[32:53] That lyric in here is amazing. Track 2:[32:55] I know. Track 3:[32:56] Coastline rise is like a pair of glowing thighs. Track 2:[33:00] See you soon. The chorus is a fucking banger. I just felt like this song was just a feel-good song that didn't slow... like sometimes the songs that slow it down in track three or four, whenever that song comes on a record, it will maybe sometimes put you in a depressing mood or whatever, but this songbuilds up to some fun. But it just, it does take it down a notch in a very nice, beautiful way. I loved it. Yeah, not much more I could say about it. I liked it. I liked it. Tim? Timmy? Track 3:[33:37] Yeah, I just thought there was some fun one-liners in here. It's kind of, I echo what Pete just said. I felt like it was a good number four. It's the guy batting clean up and you know he's solid for a single, you know, to keep things alive. And I think that's kind of what this song is. It felt a little, this is where I went back to Bob Rock and I'm like, this is a little bit Bon Jovi-esque feeling. It just, you know, that's that was kind of about it for me. Track 2:[34:11] By the way, I think what you mean, and I'm not trying to split hairs here, I think what you mean is Jon Bon Jovi. Because if anybody knows anything, there's two things. There's Bon Jovi, which is the band, and then there's Jon Bon Jovi, which is the solo shit. I felt Jon Bon Jovi on that. Track 3:[34:30] Yeah, well, I'm just more referencing like shoulder length feathered cut hair. Track 1:[34:35] That's a lot of years you're covering there. Track 2:[34:39] Well, I mean, Blaze of Glory was by and far his finest work, his finest hour, as was the film Young Guns 2, which... I'm with you there. Track 1:[34:48] I'm with you there. A lot of the movies. It was great. Track 2:[34:54] Oh, oh, God, I gotta rewatch that. Track 1:[34:56] Let's go into the next track, which is one that I always remember from when this record came out, because I had something named the same thing that I had written. I just think, this is me tooting my own horn, but I just think that title, that misspelling with the word sick, Which is journalism speak for there's a spelling error there. It's just so clever. I love it. But what did you think of the song? Track 3:[35:26] Yeah, I mean, I did speaking of spelling errors, I did read that Gord is quoted as saying it actually wasn't supposed to be world container. It was supposed to be world contain her. Oh, really? guys yeah yeah so supposedly the the, you know the the title of this album is incorrect so maybe it's somewhat of a reference to thatyeah so was that I that keep going on the song. Track 2:[35:55] Was she put into a parcel? Because I mean, I don't know. Track 3:[36:02] I don't know. Yeah Maybe maybe maybe it's hmm. That's that's another that's another hit mystery that we'll never know wonder if she's was priority or first-class Well, she had probably would have been DHL if she was coming out ofCanada So who knows? Yeah What do I have on this one, you know, it's I I just immediately went to, where Pete doesn't go sometimes apparently with songs, is like, who is this about? Is this a proposal gone bad? Is it rejection? Is it about being infatuated with someone and not having that feeling reciprocated? And there was some bit I read about it that this... where do I have the quote? This gal from... I guess gal... Lexi Liu. Who knows? Where am I gonna go here? Okay, so this person online wrote that it was about... she had experienced that it was about a teacher of hers who was dating Gord and she rejected Gord's proposal. And supposedly there's like a whole story there about Gord's, you know, one of his relationships. So who knows? Track 1:[37:28] I've... I've not... Track 3:[37:31] I've not heard that story. You have? Track 1:[37:35] No, I haven't. Oh, you haven't? Track 3:[37:37] Okay. So that, that to me, I mean, it got to this level with this, with this song and the lyrics and the content of it. But for me, it kind of got to this level of like, all right, whether or not this one's about, you know, a breakup or what have you, it's, it's, um... it's not my favorite on the album. It's catchy and it's good. It's a good song and it ends kind of at this height of energy, right? Track 1:[38:07] Yeah, it's not around long enough to be a fan. Track 3:[38:11] Yeah, it's... Track 1:[38:11] But it's not a great song, I don't think. Now there will be somebody out there who it's their favorite song and that's cool. That's what's cool about music. Track 3:[38:23] I thought about this one. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know when I'll hear, listen to this one next is kind of what I thought it was like, what's what's next on the album, but I'm curiouswhat Pete thought of it, of course. Track 2:[38:34] You know, I liked it a lot. I mean, I thought that there was some really cool ideas, like they were kind of experimenting with with the song. And I thought that there was like, chaos within that builds up to the chorus. chorus, and then it just returns to the verse. And you're like, okay, you're like, what the fuck is this going on? What is going on? And then it comes back to the verse. And you're like, okay, all right. Yeah, we're back. Because it's a bit disorientating. And, you know, Gord's vocals on this just singing for that guy must have been so cathartic. Track 1:[39:14] Like, he really puts a lot into it. Track 2:[39:17] Yeah, but it feels like he's doing it like he's a guy who like, you know, needs to exercise three hours a day at the gym. And like, that's just him exercising three hours, and you're just like listening to him do it. Because he's like, I got to do this, it's like part of my routine. And he's so good at it. You know what I mean? Like, and, you know, I want to just, you know, we can move on after the song. I like the song. It's definitely not one of my favorites on the record, but I like it. In terms of lyrics, and I just want to say this too, because I don't look at lyrics as much, or I don't look at things, there's a couple reasons for that, and I just want to say why. [40:08] Because, well, for me, writing songs, when I write songs, it's really hard to write a song that's so thematic. You know, that's like one idea that starts off and it's sewn up at the end like a fucking with a bow on it. And like, even then it's like, like, let's say it's not completely thematic, but it's, it's about something. Maybe not like super specific. Even that's hard. Like a lot of shit I've done is just little ideas of things sprinkled in a song and it's like kind of of just jumbled in and thrown in there so sometimes people ask you about things you're likewhat and the reason why I bring that up is because when I make a Steely Dan reference here I don't know if you guys have ever listened to any other shit a lot of people give them a lot ofshit I'll take that as a no I haven't listened to an album no I'll say the same thing but I have no nothing against Steely Dan? No, well, I mean, they're amongst people, amongst music heads, they, the biggest thing they get asked is what the fuck are your lyrics about? And the guy, the singer of the band who's written most of them or the other guy had written them, they always ask the same question. What's this song about? Because the lyrics are just all over the fucking place. [41:30] And ninety nine percent of the time is just like, I don't know, man, we You are just coming up with cool shit to say. I mean really like that's and their lyrics are regarded much as you would regard something like some pixies or pavement lyrics is just like super avant-garde, super strange like what youlike, whoa, that what the fuck is that about? And then you come to find out it's like, it's just, it's just no, yeah, it's nothing. Track 3:[41:59] Well, just random journal entry. Track 2:[42:01] Yeah, totally. And that's another reason why I think I've been head faked a lot and I don't dig into to them because I will prescribe a certain. a feeling or emotion to a song and come to find out I'm fucking wrong, or it's not at all about that. Like, hence, I'll be watching you, or every breath you take, excuse me. And then you're like, fuck, man, why did I play that at my wedding? Track 3:[42:28] You know, I have to think conceptually with Gord's songwriting, like he is such a prolific songwriter. And like, back to one of your first comments be like, I thought it must be, have been, it must have been exhausting to sing these songs or like be on tour and singing classic, you know, 52times in what, two months? Something crazy? Like, god damn. But with his songwriting skills, I mean, I can stop and hear one-liners that are fun and that I enjoy, but he pushes me, the way I receive it, it pushes me into going down rabbit holes of like,what was this song about? And there's been a few where I've listened to him and thought the chorus was, you know, A, B, C, D, E, and I actually look up the lyrics and I have some of the words wrong. It's hilarious. And I love when stuff like that happens. Like, that's entertaining. That's entertaining for me. Track 1:[43:30] That's great. Track 2:[43:31] Excuse me, excuse me while I kiss this guy. Track 3:[43:34] I'm still, I'm still, you know, JD, you've, you've commented on this with me before, but I'm still like, here's an album. It's like a book to me. I want to hear it start to finish and see if there's anything about it that's creating this novel. Or is it like this current album, which I feel like you can put in and put onrandom and it kind of doesn't matter. Order wise, it's one of those types of albums for me. So this song, Lovesick, in general, it's big, and it has this kind of a quick stop ending. It's got a lot of energy to it. After this, I was like, OK, what are we getting to next? I'm kind of like chugging along in this album, trying to get to what maybe is less produce of a feelingand more authentic hip. Track 1:[44:28] But the kids don't get it. Kids don't get it. Track 2:[44:30] Kids don't. Track 3:[44:30] That was it. That was it. It's a fun start. It's got a good build. There's like, quickly into it, there's this, I think, Pete, I don't know if you caught this. I think it might be a drumstick on top of a cymbal. Track 2:[44:47] Yeah, yeah. Like doing a swirl. Track 3:[44:48] Yeah. Right? It's like a swirl sound and then it fades off. I love that shit. I don't want that all the time. I feel like that's the surprise ingredient on a pizza, but there's that sound in this song a few times and it's fucking cool. You know, it's like, yeah, the kids don't get it, I was thinking. We're Gen X, you know, we get it. We were born without technology and we've integrated and we know both sides and that's what this song's about. Generations growing up just being in the middle of it and not getting it and all the hard work this band does and yeah the kids don't get it. But then as I listened to this song probably 20 times I thought, nah, Gord's smarter than me. what is he thinking about with this song, you know? And it felt more like anti-government, like you're not gonna fool us sentiment, which kind of made it even more, for lack of a better word, more punk rock feeling. Like this song was checking and way more boxes for me. Lots of whoos in it, you know, it just, this one is like Bobby Rock left the room and the guys busted out this song. That's the way it felt for me. Track 1:[46:16] Oh, I love it. I love that. And I love it especially because there's almost like a dichotomy of a lyric In this song kids don't get it and the next song, pretend. I think it's. Track 2:[46:36] Oh, there is. There certainly is. Track 1:[46:39] It's that, if I ask you a question, are you gonna lie to me? I said, honey, is that your question? Cause that one's easy. And then we get the, you know, that, that, that. Version of it is the banger version you know and the other version is a little more tone down but top heat what did you think of the kids don't get it. Track 2:[47:01] Well that was the first thing i wrote about pretend obviously but in terms of the kids don't get it i loved it i mean i echo much of what tim said i love the chorus the no. Kids don't get it. The woos in this song, Gord's singing like, he's like a, he's like a fucking pissed off buffalo. You ever seen a buffalo before? Track 1:[47:22] Yeah, driven. Track 3:[47:24] Driven by him. Track 2:[47:26] I was one of those assholes. Track 3:[47:27] They're as big as Volkswagens. Track 2:[47:29] Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, they're huge. Track 3:[47:32] You're one of the assholes? Track 2:[47:33] No, I was one of the assholes that gets out of the car at Custer National Park and, you know, walks over to one. and thinks like, oh, this is cool. Take a picture. And no, that's a fucking dumb move. For anybody listening, thinking that that's cool, or that's ever something to do, don't do it. It's fucking stupid. Track 1:[47:56] To be fair, the buffalo was having dinner. He said to you very politely, if you had waited till I was done dinner, I would have totally let you have the photo. But now I'm gonna tohave to run after you like a pissed off buffalo. Track 2:[48:11] Just said fucking that is the first memory that jogged my mind when I heard Gord's fucking grunts in this song. I feel like he, I want to watch more interviews with him. I really want to dig deep. I just haven't had time. But I want to figure out like, one, whether or not anything Tim has said throughout this his pod in terms of lyrics and meanings, like I know a lot of it has credence to him. But maybe some of it doesn't and like what he thought about it, because I feel like a lot of his words, he just writes down his poetry. And then he shows up to the studio is like, Hey, guys, let's do the song or let's make this song or whatever. Track 3:[48:52] I think he does that, too. I totally agree. Track 2:[48:54] But like, I wonder how much part of it he's sitting down with an acoustic guitar, and like working, working songs out with the lyrics he's written, because that's a whole anotherprocess, you know, to like write a bunch of shit and then to write chords. Like you got you got fucking Paul A. Wan and Gord Sinclair and Rob Baker to do that. You know, so I'm I'm just wondering, you know, what that is. And then if he was Scott, I wish he was fucking alive, man. I would love to fucking interview that guy or just talk to him and just be like, dude, what the fuck? And either I feel like therewould be two scenarios. Either he would be super fucking cool and chill, like, yeah, man, we're just fucking doing this and like this and like this happened, blah, blah, blah, blah. Or he would just like, look at me and be like, you're a feeble minded fuck. I can't wait for this interview to be over, get the fuck out of here. Track 3:[49:51] I think that's what he'd say about me. Track 1:[49:53] No, I don't know. Track 2:[49:55] Probably, probably. You're more nuanced than I am. But I just. Track 3:[49:59] He'd be like, Tim, you're about 16% right on the themes of my lyrics. And that's what I would love. I mean, that's what I love about this guy. I mean, he's obviously so fucking prolific. I wish I had like a book of his poetry sitting right here. Because, you know, he's one of those artists where you get served up something. And everybody, I think, could take their music a little bit differently but have this thread throughout it that joins all the fans together. You know, it's kind of... It's kind of what's amazing about them. And in that regard, who the fuck cares if he was writing about Canadian themes and the discussion of why they didn't make it in Orange County? Track 1:[50:47] Whatever. Track 3:[50:49] It's kind of like, who cares? How many bands not from Japan sell out shows in Japan all the time? They just want to be entertained. and maybe people just need to be entertained and not look into it that much. Track 2:[51:06] That's Stan McKe- That's Stan McKe- I- Stan- Stan McKeta? Or no, his name's not Stan McKeta, but Stan McKeta's Donuts. The people need to entertain, need to be entertained, Wayne. They need the distraction. Like the voices in my head. I thought you said- Why do they come to me to die? Why do they come to me to die? Oh my god. Oh my god. That's- You know, anybody- Wayne's World, like when he goes, why did they come to me to die? Why did they come to me to die? I think it's Wayne's World, too. Track 3:[51:42] Honestly, I thought you said spanakopita. I was just thinking about delicious, delicious Greek baked goods. I was totally in a different land. No, but I, I, let's, let's keep moving this, this song when I heard it, it was exhausting and it was the first song I hit forward on who was like, give me what's next. Yeah. Pretend. If you don't pretend and I don't pretend, pretending might end, but pretend can pretend to end. It's like, oh, this is arduous. This was tough for me. Track 1:[52:22] Wow. Track 2:[52:24] Yeah. J.D., what do you think? I'd love to like, as a hardcore hip. Track 1:[52:29] Well, it meanders. It certainly does meander. If I'm ranking the 11 songs on the record, it's in the bottom 10, right? It's either 10 or 11 on this record for me. But I'm just so curious. I'm so curious about that stanza, like why he chose to use it again, and then why did they sequence those songs back to that? Track 2:[53:00] Totally, right? Track 3:[53:02] I don't know. I don't know. love to know if they, you know, what level they took part in the production of this album. Track 1:[53:12] Did they just hand the keys over? At this point they were very fluent in studio, so I don't know that they get a production credit. Let me quickly look. Usually they do. Track 3:[53:22] I mean, this one I thought at one point after, you know, I did of course listen to it in complete, but... Track 1:[53:29] No, this is producer Bob Rock, period. And most of their other records, even when it was like Steve Berlin. It was like Steve Berlin, the tragically hip Mark Freak, or something like that. So this is, this is interesting. This is straight up Bob Rock. Huh. Okay. Track 3:[53:50] I had thought like the three of us need to do karaoke of this one so we can be like arm and arm I'm just shit-faced. Track 1:[53:58] Pretend? Track 3:[54:00] Yeah. Track 1:[54:01] Oh my gosh. Track 3:[54:02] I think we should pretend to do it and not actually do it. This is a total sing with friends, ironically singing with friends song. It's like a really nice glass of red wine or made me think of like plush velvet. I don't know what the fuck is happening. It's the song's candlelit and I don't know why it makes me feel that way. And it was like, skip, oh, it was tough. Track 2:[54:28] Yeah, I thought it was, I said, it feels like a love song in a fine dining restaurant during Sunday brunch. Yes, Sunday brunch. Track 3:[54:39] See, we were fine dining together. Track 2:[54:41] No, I mean, it doesn't feel, it feels like another band or like, now Gord's singing, And I know Gord had some soul stuff that he did. before he passed, but it definitely feels like, oh, this is not a hip song. This is some of the solo stuff. There's jazz guitar in there, which I gotta say, man, I mean, it speaks to Rob Baker's skills, man, because that guy fucking, I mean, he makes it sound good. The chorus feels really 70s, almost like there's a- AM radio. Track 1:[55:19] Yeah. Track 2:[55:19] Yeah. And there's something that they do with Gord's vocals in there. It's a 70s style thing that came about in the 70s, I feel. But Scott Weiland from Stone Doole Bynes was popular for it. It's where they double the vocals. They take literally I don't he doesn't re-record the vocals. They take the same vocal track, they double it And then they put it like they put the one track offset by like a millisecond to the other. So it sounds more full and rich. And they put put them in in one left, one right. And it sounds like gives this really weird, unique effect. And Wyland, Scott Wyland was prolific for that. But but, yeah, it's got that vibe to it. Fucking random. That's all I have to say about this song. Track 3:[56:12] It's like having two turbos on your car when you record like that, when you produce like that. Track 2:[56:16] It's like having 11 on your amp. Track 1:[56:17] Yeah. Track 3:[56:19] But why not make 10? 10 the loudest. With the lyrics of this one, when I finally, you know, let it, when I finally absorbed it really, because again, I skipped it on first listen, Um, I,you know, maybe this is like a fucking, maybe they were pretending, I don't know. Maybe the band, you know, maybe the band in their, in their career, maybe they're in their career at this point. I mean, I'd be exhausted and to a degree with trying to make it bigger than they are now. It's like, you're in the industry, you are a fucking... When you don't like it, you might be feeling like a marionette, you know? This is big, giant business happening with this band's career, and this is one of those songs maybe they have todo. Track 1:[57:16] Wow. I mean... Track 3:[57:18] Yeah. Track 1:[57:20] Let's move on because I don't dislike the song so much that I'm willing to beat it into a pulp. No, no. Track 2:[57:30] I don't know. Track 3:[57:31] I'm sorry to offend all the Canadians. Track 2:[57:33] I want to make one more quick point real quick. And this is not really about the song, but about the band. And I'll be really brief. My apologies. But to what Tim said about the band. No, no, no, really. This is the band, you know, being exhausted in this night. You have to think this is 2007 right? These guys have been at it 20 years right? They could fucking quit at any time in terms of like probably set money wise. I mean maybe they're not fucking living in, they got three different mansions but I would posit to think that every member of this band is not worrying about where they're going to gettheir next fucking meal. [58:13] Okay, yeah, they were when they did the 100% so That being said though This is a time where things were like through the 2000s, you know up through 2000 early 2002 thingswere like Record sales and all that stuff. They were making a shit ton of money and then think about this time though, man music and Streaming was coming up sales for records tanked, all that money, all that revenue thatpeople were used to just disappeared. And so I would imagine to think that this band went through a bit of a come to Jesus so to speak, and was like... I guess we do. I mean, maybe they're not thinking we got to break into the American market like every fucking Canadian thinks, or we think thinks. But like they're thinking we got to fucking 

Wow it did not take long to get to an amazing game in 1981! Defender is here with all its side-scrolling shooting goodness! We also check out the popular Midway game Gorf, and the less popular Super Tank and New Rally X in this week's episode.Website -https://historyofvideogamespodcast.comTwitter - https://twitter.com/HistoryofVideo1Email - historyvgpodcast@gmail.comHosts - Ben & WesMusic - Arranged and recorded by Ben

Show me your Magic Missile. Eat a dick Pam. My days of being a ten year old girl are long behind me. The internet casts Power Word: Lag. Welcome to the Morning Stream STOP. Win! Barryyyyyyy! He's got Bradley Cooper Eyes! Gorf, the Voltron of video games. The Living Embodiment Of A Milkshake. Polymorph: Turn Stuff into Shit. Throw your Cheetos and leave. (v) Oh I'm terrible with names. Holding Off on Humpin'. (v) Did you ever forget your pass keys with Tom. Recommending the Monkeysphere and more on this episode of The Morning Stream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show me your Magic Missile. Eat a dick Pam. My days of being a ten year old girl are long behind me. The internet casts Power Word: Lag. Welcome to the Morning Stream STOP. Win! Barryyyyyyy! He's got Bradley Cooper Eyes! Gorf, the Voltron of video games. The Living Embodiment Of A Milkshake. Polymorph: Turn Stuff into Shit. Throw your Cheetos and leave. (v) Oh I'm terrible with names. Holding Off on Humpin'. (v) Did you ever forget your pass keys with Tom. Recommending the Monkeysphere and more on this episode of The Morning Stream. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CLL #2229 (feat. The Love Between The Two Hosts) 04/14/2004 – Wednesday Night Show Source – Tucker Stream Recording (2004) with Fan Stream Recording (2004) Patches This episode is 100% complete with a medium audio upgrade, this episode features a solid opening rant about pedestrians and near misses in traffic and they play a round of GorF. Solid ep! The Love Between The Two Hosts – CLL on Youtube, with Video for select episodes. Paid Link – As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Music Provided by Rich Banks Check out His Website and Soundcloud to hear more of his awesome work and perhaps commission him for your next project. Venmo

In today's episode, Mike talks with Jordan “Gorf” Gorfinkel about the Koren Tanakh Graphic Novel – his recently released work on the book of Esther. Gorf, a practicing Jew who previously managed the Batman franchise for DC Comics, and who also has a daily comic strip called Jewish Cartoon – has just signed a contract with Koren to turn the Hebrew Scriptures into 24 graphic novels. The Esther edition, which is designed for all ages, features the Hebrew Scriptures on page, and uses the English text illustrate the drawings.

CLL #2222 (feat. The Love Between The Two Hosts) 04/05/2004 – Monday Night Show Source – Tucker Stream Recording (2004) merged with a Fan Stream Recording (2004) This episode is 100% complete with a medium audio upgrade, A woman offers to allow Drew to attend her driving school, Adam demonstrates the “three stages of Mijo” using Engineer Chris, a Caller has a GORF for the boys and Adam messes up the timeline of the band ‘Hole’ and Courtney Love’s involvement in the Seattle music scene. The Love Between The Two Hosts – CLL on Youtube, with Video for select episodes. Paid Link – As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Music Provided by Rich Banks Check out His Website and Soundcloud to hear more Read More →

This year, Koren Publishers released a new edition of the book of Esther. It contains the complete, unabridged, and Hebrew text of Esther, the same text found in any other volume of the Hebrew Bible. But the rest of it is all new: a graphic novel version of the story illustrated by Yael Nathan and masterminded by Jordan B. Gorfinkel. Gorfinkel, known commonly as Gorf, was an editor at DC Comics for nearly a decade, where he managed its signature Batman franchise. The themes of American superheroes—who disguise their true identity and then at the opportune moment cast off their disguise for a higher purpose—bear not a little on the text of Esther. This week on the podcast, Mosaic editor Jonathan Silver joins Gorfinkel to discuss the editorial, artistic, and design decisions that went into the presentation of the graphic novel Esther. Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble.

With Purim just around the corner Aryeh and Alex sat down with the incredible, unstoppable, and incomparable Jordan B. Gorfinkel - better known as Gorf! Gorf is the mastermind behind the new Koren Tanakh Graphic Novel series launched this year with Esther! Gorf is also the architect of the world-famous Passover Haggada Graphic Novel which has been a bestseller every year since its publication in 2019. Outside the Jewish World, or perhaps in a different part of it, Gorf served as the manager of the Batman series at DC Comics for nearly a decade. He oversaw Birds of Prey which was later adapted into a 2022 TV series and a 2020 movie. He also directed the Batman: No Man's Land series which served as the inspiration for The Dark Night Rises and season 5 of the TV series Gotham. Gorf shares his vision for Jewish education, a word he tries to avoid in favor of 'illuminating' for the next generation. Join us to hear Gorf teach the whole Torah standing on one leg - al regel ahat! ____________________________________________________________ Useful Links: The Koren Tanakh Graphic Novel - Esther with English translation The Koren Tanakh Graphic Novel - Esther with modern Hebrew translation The Passover Haggada Graphic Novel | | Get 10% off your next order from www.korenpub.com with code PODCAST at checkout. If you would like to contact us you can reach us on social media @KorenPublishers or via email, at podcast@korenpub.com | | | The Koren Podcast was written and hosted by Aryeh Grossman and Alex Drucker and is edited and produced by Alex Drucker. Artwork by Atara Suna. Music by Music Unlimited via pixabay.com The Koren Podcast is part of the Koren Podcast Network, a division of Koren Publishers Jerusalem.

3:59:57 – Frank in NJ and NYC, plus the Other Side. Topics include: Route One dream, coffee, abzarby, car thumb drive music update, De La Soul, Super Bowl, pinball, Cinépolis, Marcade, Rollergames, Baby Pac-Man, Jungle King, Gorf, Kings of Steel, Pin-Bot, Blackout, landscape architecture signage, vague thoughts driving around New Jersey, night drive home after the big […]

3:59:57 – Frank in NJ and NYC, plus the Other Side. Topics include: Route One dream, coffee, abzarby, car thumb drive music update, De La Soul, Super Bowl, pinball, Cinépolis, Marcade, Rollergames, Baby Pac-Man, Jungle King, Gorf, Kings of Steel, Pin-Bot, Blackout, landscape architecture signage, vague thoughts driving around New Jersey, night drive home after the big […]

GORF - e guets Neus wünsche mir! freesfx.co.uk --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/2hsu1t/message

One of the great differences between Athens and Jerusalem is that while Athens was the early master of philosophical inquiry, Jerusalem became the early master of storytelling. The Bible is the source for the greatest stories ever told—what Rabbi Sacks call “philosophy in the narrative mode”. And at least in terms of scale, perhaps the greatest storytelling civilization after ancient Israel is America since the invention of modern media. And, of course, it's no accident that one of the most profound influences on American society is actually the texts, values and ideas of ancient Israel. So how should we understand this legacy of storytelling from ancient times to today? On this episode, Ari unpacked all of this with Jordan Gorfinkel, AKA Gorf, one of the great creators and writers for DC Comics—creator of the legendary No Man's Land run in the Batman series; and creator of the Birds of Prey franchise—as well as author of the Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel. They talked the Good Faith Effort Drinking Game™; the influence of Genesis on one of the most iconic Batman comic runs; Gotham as Sodom and Gomorrah; the role of humor in great storytelling; the different eras of Batman; the creation of the Birds of Prey franchise; why Gorf had to skip dinner with Mark Hamill; whether pop culture can be sanctified; Rabbi Norman Lamm's influence on comic books (!); and much more! Good Faith Effort is a production of Bnai Zion and SoulShop.

Scott Gorfin and Life Of Mine have teamed up to present the new business, UNDERGROUND MINERS. Gorf and Matty yarn about the new project in true Underground fashion in this episode. Check it out at https://lifeofminepodcast.com/underground-miners/ The purpose of this project is to reward Gorf for building and maintaining the massive Facebook groups Underground Miners and Aussie Underground Miners. All business and promotional posts will now require a subscription that can be obtained via the link above.   There are 2 packages:   Hustler Package $39/Month - Unlimited business and promotional posts on both Underground Miners and Aussie Underground Miners Facebook groups.   Big Wig Package - $1430 One Off (Save 20%) Or 12 Monthly Payments Of $149 - 1 year of unlimited posts - Profile Picture on Aussie Underground Miners and Underground Miners (2 weeks). - Pinned Facebook page Post (2 weeks) on Aussie Underground Miners, Underground Miners and Life Of Mine Podcast Facebook pages. - Audio interview on Life Of Mine Podcast with Matty and Gorf to promote business/offers (distributed across all platforms)  

Scott Gorfin and Life Of Mine have teamed up to present the new business, UNDERGROUND MINERS. Gorf and Matty yarn about the new project in true Underground fashion in this episode. Check it out at https://lifeofminepodcast.com/undergroundminers/ The purpose of this project is to reward Gorf for building and maintaining the massive Facebook groups Underground Miners and Aussie Underground Miners. All business and promotional posts will now require a subscription that can be obtained via the link above.   There are 2 packages:   Hustler Package $39/Month – Unlimited business and promotional posts on both Underground Miners and Aussie Underground Miners Facebook groups.   Big Wig Package – $1430 One Off (Save 20%) Or 12 Monthly Payments Of $149 – 1 year of unlimited posts – Profile Picture on Aussie Underground Miners and Underground Miners (2 weeks). – Pinned Facebook page Post (2 weeks) on Aussie Underground Miners, Underground Miners and Life Of Mine Podcast Facebook pages. – Audio interview on Life Of Mine Podcast with Matty and Gorf to promote business/offers (distributed across all platforms)  

Caitlin's Backstory-What lead Caitlin to Nebraska other than her family being strong Husker supporters. -What sport would you do outside of swimming?-Difference between a NARP and a GORF.

You finally all get to meet the man that approves all your posts in Underground Miners and Aussie Underground Miners, Scott Gorfin. Gorf and I have a great yarn about why he started the Facebook pages, possibilities of monetising them and plenty more Underground Mining chat. Be sure to check out our Part 2 Patron yarn where all the feral and juicy secrets are hidden. – Download the Podbean app – Subscribe to Life Of Mine – Click the red $ button and become a Patron This will give you access to all PATRON ONLY episode (they’re obviously the best ones).   

You finally all get to meet the man that approves all your posts in Underground Miners and Aussie Underground Miners, Scott Gorfin. Gorf and I have a great yarn about why he started the Facebook pages, possibilities of monetising them and plenty more Underground Mining chat. Be sure to check out our Part 2 Patron yarn where all the feral and juicy secrets are hidden. - Download the Podbean app - Subscribe to Life Of Mine - Click the red $ button and become a Patron This will give you access to all PATRON ONLY episode (they're obviously the best ones).   

In a packed episode 2 of the revamped show, Rob and Dean cover GORF, Retro Pick Ups, Board Games, Uncharted Digital Upgrades, Recent Museum Donations AND a guided tour of the gaming room - PHEW! Enjoy, don't forget to subscribe and did you know - this show can also be viewed on Youtube on our Pixel Fix page

Doug and his crew head to Gorf, where Blobby is reunited with his family.

Way too cold to leave the house, so today we're just flipping through another old issue of Dynamite, that classic magazine for kids of the 70s and 80s. (You could get Dynamite through the school book club or by subscription, so either your teacher or your mailman would know you're a huge nerd.) This issue is from 1981, and features an exclusive interview with Rick Springfield! (Rick is on the cover AND on a giant fold-out poster. Somebody's bedroom wall just got a lot dreamier.) Also inside: a Dark Crystal sneak preview, Brooke Shields and her Calvins, useless video game tips (your Gorf score is not likely to improve), the DynaMates pen pal service (surely a disaster in the making), more Dynamite Bummers (as lame as ever), a horse raffle (?), and a horrifying recipe for a rolled-up white bread pizza abomination. There, we read the whole thing for you, probably saving you 75 cents. Go buy a Twinkie or something. The Flopcast website! The ESO Network! The Flopcast on Facebook! The Flopcast on Instagram! The Flopcast on Twitter! Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts! Email: info@flopcast.net Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation! This week's promos: Cosmic Pizza! Metal Geeks!

Companies making bad choices, Square getting a win, and Titanfall is delisted because it's unkept. Intro/Outro music:: https://www.patreon.com/chris_huelsbeck Written Work: https://blog.walkinshadows.com/ ((Where you can find Jennifer's written content!)) ColdDeath's Game Organizer: https://coldgamesorg.de/ Resobaso's Gaming channel: www.resowalkthroughs.com Topics: It Takes Two... to be an asshole of a company? (https://nichegamer.com/take-two-interactive-trademark-it-takes-two/) FF 14 has 25 million users (https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/final-fantasy-xiv-reaches-25-million-users-releases-60-patch-notes) Suddenly...Expansions (https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/475150/view/3115924807150115357) Original Titanfall has been delisted (https://nichegamer.com/titanfall-has-been-delisted/) 1001 Games: Gorf(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorf)

You can also listen to the show at: Stitcher Google Podcasts Spotify Apple Podcasts TuneIn …and all other dodgy podcast apps Podcast Guide – PDF TIMESTAMP: Intro / What we've been up tae (trash and nonsense) – 0 What Games The post Podcast 166 – GORF appeared first on Ten Pence Arcade Podcast.

#VideoGames #Arcade #Gorf #RetroNorb!!!  The legendary NorbCam is here!  The other "Watch Man" joins Mike and shows off his impressive Gorf arcade playing skills.  Who the heck is Gorf anyway?  What does he sound like?  Learn all that and more on this special show!YouTube link to this show:  https://youtu.be/AiaFn0aM0wk5 min. Gaming With Mike on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvke-gQ4wgZLVdfctzPZw7P-UERFmN6TEIf you like this video, please hit that Like button! Subscribe and hit that notification bell, as well! Follow us here:Email: TheWatchMenShow@gmail.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWatchMenShow/Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheWatc63749470Thank you for spending your time with 5min Gaming With Mike!

Gorf Girlz (@gorfgirlz) are an Atlanta based girl band made up of six exceptional musicians: Camille, Ajasia, Addie, Vivi, Kristian, and Charlee. They put out their fantastic single 'In My Park' in January, which can be found on Spotify and all the usual places. It was such a great time speaking with them about their experiences so far and I'm personally very excited to see what's to come for these legends! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/londonmusicreview/support

In the final episode of this season, Shira answers a question from Ashira in Israel. Ashira and her family want to paint a mural of Keriyat Yam Suf - the splitting of the Red Sea, but what did it really look like?! Shira talks to Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel, former editor of the Batman comics for DC and creator of the Passover Haggada Graphic Novel from Koren Publishers. Gorf tells Shira about the important role pictures have to play in the Haggada and understanding Pesah and shares how he and artist Erez Zadok made their decisions of how to represent the Pesah story in a graphic novel. Shira also talks to Dr. Erica Brown, an expert educator, about how to make the Seder more fun, how the kids can take charge, and how we can fulfill the mitzva of seeing ourselves as if we left Egypt. The Haggadot by Gorf and Dr. Erica Brown can be found here. I've Got a Question is hosted by Shira Greenspan and produced by Aryeh Grossman, Dr. Daniel Rose, and Alex Drucker. The show is edited by Alex Drucker. I've Got a Question is part of the Koren Podcast Network, a division of Koren Publishers Jerusalem.

It's 1981 and the Gorfian Empire is invading Earth, you must protect it all cost! Gorf was a pioneer in during the Golden Age of Arcade, being an early adopter to use synthesized speech and the first arcade game to feature multiple screens. We can thank Jamie Fenton for creating this little gem and giving other developers new ideas for future titles. I hope you enjoy the history and story of Gorf. Follow The Arcade Files on social media: https://www.facebook.com/thearcadefiles https://twitter.com/arcade_files https://www.instagram.com/thearcadefiles/ https://www.parler.com/thearcadefiles Insert Coin Documentary https://www.insertcoindoc.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thearcadefiles/message

Chapter 0036 - 0037 Narrative  Chapter 0036 Pop!  Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner (1948 - Present)  Sword of Ba Heer (Shroud of the Avatar) Chuck Taylor All Stars (1932 - Present)  Chapter 0037 Pop! Gorf (1981) Tempest (1981) Ex LAX (1906 - Present) Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975) Console Rundown  PDP-1 Altair 8800 IMSAI 8080 Apple I and II  Atari 2600 Commodore PET Intellivision TRS-80  Atari 400 and 800 ColecoVision TI-99/4 Sinclair ZX80 Commodore 64 Console Wars! NES vs. Sega Master System SNES vs Sega Genesis PlayStation 2 vs. Xbox PC vs Mac The Twilight Zone (1959 - 1964)

Reading from Wayside stories, chapter 1 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/don837/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/don837/support

TDE sits down with Jamie Fenton, the developer of the original multi-game shooter, Gorf. We dig deep into Jamie’s early life and career with Dave Nutting Associates and Midway, covering transgender issues, Datsun sports cars, Larry Cuba of Star Wars SFX fame, the original US military application of the Gorf flight stick, the ill-fated Robby Roto, and the fascinating (yet ultimately aborted) development of Ms.Gorf.

CO Front Range News Hour - 2020-5-4 Headline aggregator GORF.news THANK YOU producers:  https://patriot.imgix.net/6929ce1931b8e873eae3389e9159101c0558c4b82ccf33dbc26bfc22a94a1e09.jpg

Mrs. Gorf is turning kids into apples at Wayside School! How will she be stopped? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/happymonsters/support

Heute zu Gast bei Superkinetics: Mathias Gorf berät bei der HolidayCheck AG den CTO/CPO bei der Schaffung eines agilen "Produkt-Entwicklungs"-Unternehmens. Als echter Praktiker ist Mathias für die Verbesserungen des OKR-Prozesses bei HolidayCheck zuständig. Außerdem leitet er die ScrumMaster der vier Standorte in Europa und hilft ihnen dabei, als starkes Team zusammenzuarbeiten. In diesem Gespräch erfährst du über die Prozesse, die HolidayCheck Group AG zu einem erfolgreichen, agilen Unternehmen machen. Willst du Mathias eine Frage stellen? Join the Workpath Community! https://community.workpath.com/

In episode 12 of the Bally Alley Astrocast, Adam is joined by his good friend, and sometime-co-host, Chris++. Adam and Chris review the Bally Arcade/Astrocade game "ICBM Attack." This is one of the very rare third-party programs that was released on cartridge. This 4Kb game was released in 1982 by Brett Bilbrey, Mike Toth and Marian Nalepa (Spectre Systems). It requires a special controller called the "Spectre Handle" to play the game. Recurring Links  BallyAlley.com - Bally Arcade / Astrocade Website What's New at BallyAlley.com Bally Alley Blog Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Website Bally Alley Discussion Group Bally Arcade / Astrocade Atari Age Sub-forum Bally Arcade/Astrocade High Score Club Bally Alley Astrocast Facebook Page The Classic Gaming Bookcast - By Chris Federico "ICBM Attack" Notes ICBM Attack by Spectre Systems - Video overview and how to use a trackball to play the game in the Astrocade emulator included with MAME. "Two Astrocade Cartridges Released into the Public Domain" - By Adam Trionfo (May 10, 2001) - This article is about the public domain release of two Bally Arcade/Astrocade cartridges by Spectre Systems: "ICBM Attack" and "Treasure Cove." Spectre Systems Documentation Area - This area of BallyAlley.com holds documents related to Spectre System's games and products. Spectre ICBM Attack Handle Pictures - Analog controller used with the very rare ICBM Attack cartridge by Spectre. Notice that this plugs into two controller ports. Spectre Handle Instructions - This is the documentation for the special controller (joystick) used for ICBM Attack. It contains program examples so that the controller can be used from BASIC, plus a letter explaining some problems people have been having regarding the ICBM cartridge. Tid-Bits - This is one page of tid-bits of information from Brett Bilbrey. This information was originally included in Russ Perry Jr.'s newsletter Slap Dash. ICBM Attack Cassette Description by Brett Bilbrey - June 22, 1982. This is the concept of ICBM Attack as originally envisioned by Brett. This game was eventually released on cartridge. ICBM Attack Programming Notes - Twelve pages of handwritten programming notes by Brett Bilbrey about ICBM Attack. In the notes, the game is called "Missile Command." Playing ICBM Attack Using the MESS Astrocade Emulator by Paul Thacker and Adam Trionfo - Each ICBM Attack cartridge came with an analog controller that is absolutely required to play the game. In order to play the game using the MESS (or MAME) emulator, it is absolutely essential to setup the emulator correctly. This article explains how to go about doing that so that you can play ICBM Attack perfectly. ICBM Attack Concept Art - Original concept art for ICBM Attack as drawn on graph paper. The art includes the title screen and game screens. ICBM Attack (Tape) - Early version of the game that is loadable with Bally BASIC. ICBM Attack (Prototype Cart) on Tape - This prototype cartridge loads into an Astrocade with expansion RAM. ICBM Attack Disassembly - A disassembly of ICBM Attack begun November 18, 2011 by Adam Trionfo. ICBM Attack (Low-Res) ICBM Attack (Alternate Picture) iMissile Attack (Picture of Cart) - Mike White's modified version of ICBM Attack. ICBM Attack (Prototypes) for Bally BASIC - Three early versions of the cartridge game archived from tapes in Brett Bilbrey's collection. Load with :RUN, not :INPUT. ICBM Attack (Prototypes) for AstroBASIC - Two early versions of I.C.B.M. Attack by Spectre Systems. These should be loaded with :RUN. They're not actually playable games at this stage. Astrocade News/Updates 8-Bit Workshop - Write 8-bit code, including for the Astrocade, in your browser. Ever wanted to be an old-school game programmer? Learn how classic game hardware worked. Write code and see it run instantly. Gorf Coin-Op: Latest Disassembly - David Turner's original posting to the Bally Alley discussion forum on Groups.io. Dave says, "I've made a little progress on the Coin-Op version of Gorf and thought I would make it available. It will assemble with zmac." Dave added comments from the GORF source code written in TERSE. BallyAlley.com hosts the Gorf Arcade Disassembly, but (as of Feb. 6, 2020) it doesn't have Dave's newest update yet. TERSE Documentation and Source Code - Alan McNeil programmed TERSE, which is short for either "Terse Efficient Recursive Stack Engine" or "Terse Efficient Reentrant Stack Engine." This programming langauge was used at Dave Nutting Associates to program arcade games such as The Adventures of Robby Roto!, GORF and other games from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The TERSE language is based on FORTH. Next Episode's Coverage Cosmic Raiders by Astrocade, Inc. - (Cartridge Game) In deep space lies the alien sector Larkin. You are there on a mission to obtain energy sources that have been seized by the evil Larkins. Radar and a superior guidance system help you avoid attacking fighters and Kamikaze ships. The energy stars are near the Larkin command ship: you must retrieve them before you can leave the enemy sector. Outpost 19 by WaveMakers - (BASIC Game) You are stranded on an alien outpost with nobody to help you. While you wait and pray for a rescue party, the only hope you have of surviving is to gather the food parcels that exist in each of the 16 rooms of the outpost. While you're chasing after the food parcels, the alien is chasing after you! His advantage is that he can go through walls, so his path toward you is more of a straight line, while your escape must be around obstacles in the rooms and through doorways provided. Feedback Sideswipe by WaveMaker - Mike Peace, the author of this Sideswipe, left feedback in January 2020 on this overview of this BASIC game. Astrocade at Magfest! - December 12, 2019 forum thread by "ubersaurus."

Happy New Year! This month Phil, Kate, Tony and Clive speak to Raymond Simonson, Chief Executive of JW3 about the JW3 Ice Rink and the 'Winter Family Disco'. Comic Book Creator and Cartoonist, Jordan B. Gorfinkel a.k.a. Gorf chats about his unusual and fascinating career in Batman comics. Historian Alan Dein talks about his forthcoming event at JW3' Petticoat Lane Foxtrot' which explores Jewish jazz music. Rabbi David Mason of Muswell Hill Synagogue on why he and hundreds of others braved the elements in Trafalgar Square for the homeless. Our Jewish Domestic Goddess, Denise Phillips gives us an insight into some of the predicted food trends for 2020 and our Rabbinic Thought for the Month comes from Rabbi Danny Rich of Liberal Judaism UK.

The ARG crew are back!  This time around, Amigo Aaron and The Brent are looking at a surprising and somewhat forgotten classic computer..the Vic 20!!    Watch as we play Gorf and Sword of Fargoal! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/arg-presents/support

In episode 10 of the Bally Alley Astrocast, Adam and Chris++ review the modified version of the "AstroBASIC" game Gobblers. They also discuss just a few of the many updates to the BallyAlley.com website since March 2017. Finally, they talk about some of the recent occurrences in the Astrocade community. This is the first full-length episode in over 2 1/2 years; thanks to all those Astrocade fans who kept pestering Adam for another episode. Recurring Links  BallyAlley.com - Bally Arcade / Astrocade Website What's New at BallyAlley.com Bally Alley Blog Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Website Bally Alley Discussion Group Bally Arcade / Astrocade Atari Age Sub-forum Bally Arcade/Astrocade High Score Club Bally Alley Astrocast Facebook Page The Classic Gaming Bookcast - By Chris Federico Some Astrocade News/Updates Astrocade Video Art - BallyAlley's YouTube Playlist Astrocade Video Art - Archive.org MOD 2 by Dan Sandin - "MOD 2," a Bally BASIC video art program, that appeared in an article called "Pix-Art" by Frank Dietrich and Zsuzsanna Molnar. This article, which appeared in "Computer Graphics and Art," 1980-1981 Yearbook 5, covers the Bally Arcade as a low-cost solution to create graphics using Bally BASIC and the ZGrass language. It specifically talks about several pieces of art that were written using the two languages. Some of the video art pictures are included in the article, as well as some source code for a few programs. Astrocademo - By Genesis Project. Demo for the Bally Astrocade (1978). Code by Shadow. Music by MCH. 2000-Baud "AstroBASIC" Tape I/O Support Missing - Summary of Missing Feature at MAME Testers Bounty: $100 for Astrocade Tape Support- Thread at bannister.org requesting tape support be added to MAME's Astrocade emulation. Bally Arcade / Astrocade Real Hardware Timing Test - This video was created using real Bally Arcade/Astrocade hardware. Two programs are run that use clocks which can be used for timing real Bally Arcade hardware versus emulation. One program, Goldfish Demo, is written in machine language. The other program, Grandfather Clock, is written in BASIC. This video can be used to test how the emulation speed is for Astrocade emulation. Each program is run for three minutes. Bally BASIC/AstroBASIC Differences - The "Bally/Astro Basic" section of the html version of the Astrocade FAQ. Bally Alley Astrocade Discussion Group - There is an active Astrocade discussion group at Groups.io that has its roots dating back to 2001 at Yahoo Groups. You can browse the over 16,000 messages that were moved from the original Yahoo groups to the Groups.io site in the fall of 2019. In addition, the Groups.io site is now the current place to talk about the Astrocade today. Palo Alto Tiny BASIC, Version 3 - By Li-Chen Wang. This article is excerpted from PCC's Reference Book of Personal And Home Computing, Edited by Dwight McCabe. 1977. Pages 58-88. Bally BASIC (and "AstroBASIC") are a superset of the original Palo Alto Tiny BASIC. This version of Li-Chen Wang's Palo Alto Tiny BASIC will run on either the 8080 or Z-80, and only uses 2K of core memory. It contains a number of nice features including command abbreviations and error messages. At the end of the listing is a cross reference table for symbols used in the program and also the object code for the program. For further information on Tiny BASIC languages, see Dr. Dobb's Journal, Volume 1. Gunfight: A Z80 Instruction by Instruction Breakdown- By Michael Matte - 198x. In the 1980s, Michael Matte, a passionate Astrocade user, used the Z80 source code listing for the 8K ROM, available in the "Nutting Manual," as a basis for his detailed breakdown of Gunfight. Michael created the breakdown "to provide beginner assembly or machine language programmers an inside look at the game Gunfight. The documentation will reveal how on-board subroutines in the System ROM can be used to execute particular tasks. The 'special routines' listing can be used as a reference source for programming demos or games." The archive includes Michael Matte's complete, 42-page breakdown of the Astrocade game Gunfight. This breakdown will be most useful if used with the source code for the Bally's 8K system ROM, which is available in the "Nutting Manual." Astrocade High-Resolution Upgrade - By Michael Matte (Circa 1985/1986/2019) - These five in-depth "packages" (documents) were created by Michael C. Matte in 1986. These documents explain how to upgrade a Bally Arcade/Astrocade from the "Consumer Mode," which uses the low-resolution display (160x102 pixels), to "Commercial Mode," which uses the high-resolution mode (320x204 pixels) used in arcade games such as Gorf and Wizard of Wor. There are pictures of Michael's hi-res unit and screenshots here too. Hi-Res Bally Arcade/Astrocade Correspondence and Hi-Res Project Updates - I have added correspondence from 1985 and 1986 between Michael Matte, Don Gladden (who edited volume 6 of the Arcadian) and Bob Fabris. Michael wrote the documentation on how to upgrade the Bally Arcade to hi-res mode. His letters primarily deal with this matter, but he also drops some wonderful tid-bits, such as that he made a BalCheck II for his hi-res unit. He also upgraded the Machine Language Manager cartridge so that it could take advantage of hi-res mode. SetScreen 2: An Upgraded Bally Arcade/Astrocade Troubleshooting Utility- By MCM Design/Michael Matte. October 2017. Setscreen 2 is a visual troubleshooting tool that can be used to help diagnose a failed Astrocade motherboard producing a blank TV screen at power-up. GitHub Astrocade Code Repository - Rachel Weil's (aka "hxlnt") GitHub annotated Z80 assembly source code, binaries, and dev tools for the Bally Astrocade. A Power Transformer Substitution for the Bally/Astrocade Computer System- By Michael Matte (MCM Design). April 2018. If your original Bally power supply fails, and you have experience in electronics, then these instructions explain how to build a substitute power transformer. "Treasures of Cathy" - By John Collins. 1982.This adventure-style game has 49 locations with 18 treasures. You can only carry six treasures/items at a time. Each treasure gives additional points. Each move subtracts one point. Try for a score greater than 1,000 points. There are four keywords: IN, UP, DROP and GET. On September 7, 2018, this game was played by Chris++ and Adam Trionfo. A rough, incomplete map of the game was created to help figure-out the game's layout. To answer Paul's 10-year-old question: to enter the house, climb one of the trees in the game (type UP), and then GET the key from the bird's nest. With the key, the player can enter the house by typing IN. Feedback The Astrocade Turns 40! - AtariAge Thread. - The first Bally Home Library Computer Arcade finally shipped and arrived in people's hands in late January 1978. Many of these people who got their units had ordered their system from a three-page JS&A ad that appeared in the September 1977 issue of Scientific American. Happy birthday, Astrocade! The Bally is now 40 years old and we're still fiddling around with it. Good for us! If anyone has any stories to tell about the Astrocade (especially if you got your system in 1978 or for your birthday!), then I'd love to hear your tales! Private Screenings: The GAMES Guide To Home Video Games- By Phil Wiswell - From December 1982 GAMES magazine - "Mezmaron" mentions this article in his feeback to the show. Page 38 of the magazine (page two of the article) has the Astrocade system on it. History Panel: "The Arcadians: Exploring the history of homebrew for the Bally Astrocade"- For any enthusiasts who are going to Magfest or live on the east coast, Rachel Simone Weil and [Kevin Bunch] will be running a history panel all about the independent developer/enthusiast scene that cropped around the Astrocade! There is also an AtariAge forum thread on this topic. Gobblers (Mod) by Bob Wiseman and Klaus Doerge The original version of Gobblers is from Arcadian 3, no. 12 (Oct. 05, 1981): 125. The modified version, with updates by Klaus Doerge, is from Arcadian 5, no. 4 (Feb. 18, 1983): 56, 70. "This is a two-player game played on a 10x5 field. The object of the game is to have your Gobbler gobble-up more squares than you opponent. When play begins, use the JX and JY to direct your Gobbler around the screen. Each printed square is worth 1, 2, 3, or 4 points, depending upon how many dots are there. The game ends when the last square is eaten." Gobblers - "AstroBASIC" 2000-Baud version. Gobblers - Bally BASIC 300-Baud Version.

Who is your favorite teacher Mrs. Gorf or Mrs. Jewls?

Who would you rather be your teacher, Mrs. Gorf or Mrs. Jewls?

Chapter 1-2. Who's would you rather be your teacher Mrs. Gorf or Mrs. Jewls?

In 1982, there was an epidemic of sides splitting at CBS Electronics due to all the laughing. What was so funny? The programmers were handed a new arcade game to adapt for the Atari. "Tell me again what it's called," one giggling programmer said, gasping for breath. "It's called GORF," the other shrieked, wiping mirthful tears from his eyes. This week's game in episode 190 is the space shooter with the dumb name: GORF. Part Space Invaders, part Galaxian...all fun? We shall see. This week's short story/bad poetry corner entry: THE FINAL MOMENT BEFORE OBLIVION OR WHATEVER ACTUALLY COMES NEXT New York Daily News piece about the "new" Jim Henson project 'A Tale of Sand'. The Game Console: A Photographic History From Atari to Xbox Thanks to Kevin McLeod at Incompetech.com for creative commons use of his songs "Reformat", "Pinball Spring" and "Take a Chance".  Thanks to Mike Mann for the "Mad Mike Hughes" theme. Thanks to Sean Courtney for the "Storytime" theme. Find out more about ATARI BYTES and my other show IT'S A PODCAST, CHARLIE BROWN including links to show notes, episodes and social media at www.carnivalofgleecreations.com Find out more about my books MISERY BANANA: VERY SHORT STORIES INSPIRED BY OLD GAMES AND ODD THOUGHTS and IN THE ST. NICK OF TIME at www.carnivalofgleecreations.com too. Here's one of the places you can order MISERY BANANA. Pick up shirts and mugs at AB_Pod_Store on Zazzle.com You can support ATARI BYTES financially on the Atari Bytes page on Patreon.com  

An endearingly goofy surgeon bumbles his way through yet another adventure that takes him across the world and leaves a serious body count. 

Jordan B. Gorfinkel(http://jewishcartoon.com/), aka GORF, presents his lecture "Illustrating the Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel" before an audience at Temple Chai (www.templechai.com/) in Phoenix, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: In “Illustrating the Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel…Or: Everything I Needed To Know About the Haggadah I Learned From Batman,” veteran comic book creator and editor Jordan B. Gorfinkel (aka GORF) will analyze the narrative and thematic elements of the Haggadah in order to show how the story lends itself perfectly to a comic book adaptation. ABOUT THE HAGGADAH: The Passover Haggadah Graphic Novel integrates a brand-new, modern translation into sophisticated and fun sequential art that brings the epic Exodus story to life. The result of extensive historical and linguistic research, every gorgeous panel imbues the classic narrative with renewed relevance and excitement. DONATE: bit.ly/1NmpbsP PURCHASE THE HAGGADAH: https://amzn.to/2SsIaKi For more info, please visit: www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash/ www.facebook.com/temple.chai twitter.com/VBMTorah www.facebook.com/RabbiShmulyYanklowitz/ https://www.facebook.com/HaggadahGraphicNovel/ Music: "They Say" by WowaMusik, a public domain track from the YouTube Audio Library.

A new ally has joined the party! Sometimes friends are found in the strangest of places, and in this case the new friend is... a rug.

There's an unsung hero we need to talk about, friends. A person who just wants to break free from the monotony of 9-5 and the torture of climbing 30 flights of stairs every day. Kelly and Emily understand this person. Kelly and Emily love this person. This person... is Mrs. Gorf. Yes indeed, this week is a return to Louis Sachar with 1978's "Sideways Stories from Wayside School". It's time to talk about how much biting people is too much biting people, the mysteries of the 19th floor, and HOLD UP WAIT Kick the Can has rules?! A lot of rules?! Kelly's having a very educational week.   Next time: James and the Giant Peach Music: "Heartbreaker" by Jahzzar Twitter: @ThrowbackBSPod

Take out Summer 2017 in style - with a 50V shock, a Gorf and some discussion about the "good old days"... Playmeter style. The post 59: #20DollarNotActuallyAWord first appeared on Brokentoken.com.

Take out Summer 2017 in style - with a 50V shock, a Gorf and some discussion about the "good old days"... Playmeter style.

Broadcasting from a dark place - The Cabaret Kingdom. We discuss and play the 1981 classic, GORF - Galactic Orbiting Robot Force. The Rejects dive into recent pickups, including - ArPiCade, a mystery item for Jordan's basement and the Fluke 9100A. We mix things up with a few new segments and Ballblazing commentary. Enjoy!

Ronald Borta, Roklan Software Ronald Borta was co-founder of JACC, which made educational software under contract for Atari, where he programmed Atari States and Capitals and Atlas of Canada, and other software for the the Atari 400 and 800 computers. He moved to Roklan Software, the company that programmed hundreds of titles for the Atari computers and many other platforms of the time.  Roklan published a number of cartridges for the Atari computers, including Deluxe Invaders and Gorf. The company also produced Pac Man (published by Atari), Gyruss (published by Parker Brothers), Wizard of Wor (published by CBS), Mickey in the Great Outdoors (published by Disney), and myriad other game and educational titles. The company also created software for the Atari 2600 and 5200, Apple //, Commodore 64 and VIC-20, Texas Instruments 99/4A, ColecoVision, Intellivision, and other platforms. He is known as the first person to have patented software. This interview took place on December 9, 2016. Teaser quotes: "$25,000 that I got from Atari doing Pac Man turned out to be the best investment I ever made." "I only did video games that did not feature violence against people. Then I end up in weapons systems." Roklan software at AtariMania 1994 interview with Ronald in Atari Explorer Online: http://cd.textfiles.com/crawlycrypt2/txtfiles/aeo/aeo_0314/aeo_0314.txt Roklan listing at GDRI: http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Roklan ANTIC interview with Fred Thorlin: https://archive.org/details/FredThorlinInterview

Episode 5 of the Bally Alley Astrocast doesn't cover a game this episode. Chris has left as a co-host, so the review of The Incredible Wizard has been pushed to episode 6. Paul and I cover the Arcadian newsletter issues 5 and 6 (March and May 1979).  We cover a bit of feedback too. Paul and I discuss eleven letters to the Arcadian, dating mostly from the Spring of 1979. Recurring Links  BallyAlley.com - Bally Arcade / Astrocade Website What's New at BallyAlley.com Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Website Bally Alley Yahoo Discussion Group Bally Arcade / Astrocade Atari Age Sub-forum Bally Arcade/Astrocade High Score Club Bally Alley Astrocast Facebook Page The Classic Gaming Bookcast - By Chris Federico Introduction/News 280 ZZZap / Dodgem - MAME Bug Report and fix (July 2016). Bally Arcade / Astrocade - Bally BASIC Demo (1978) - Video. Bally BASIC Demo, by Bally Mfg. Corp. - Functional Series - 8K cart - 1978. This cartridge has a small (about 6") chain attached to the top-front. This cartridge was made in limited quantities and only distributed to dealers, as was also done with the Dealer Demo cartridge. The first 4K is a "crippled" version of Bally BASIC that doesn't have access to the keypad or hand controllers- except #3: all the inputs are disabled. The remaining 4K of the cartridge is a program written in BASIC. Bally Arcade / Astrocade - Bally Dealer Demo (1978) - Video. Bally Dealer Demo. Bally Mfg. Corp. Functional Series. #6001. 4K cart. 1978. This cartridge was not sold to the general public and was only produced in limited quantities. The only public sales began in 1983 and came from ABC Hobbycraft (who acquired Astrocade's remaining inventory). The cartridge runs about two minutes and features the "built in" software of the Bally console. Written by Dick Ainsworth. 280 Zzzap / Dodgem Disassembly - A partial Z80 disassembly of 280 Zzzap / Dodgem. This game was released by Bally Mfg. Corp. in 1978. It was programmed by Jay Fenton. Cosmic Raiders Disassembly - A partial Z80 disassembly of Cosmic Raiders. This 8K game, part of the Action/Skills Series released in 1983 by Astrocade Inc., is part #2019. Written by Bob Ogden, Scot L. Norris, Julie Malan, and Lisa Natting. Music from the Bally BASIC Demo cartridge - This music is used as a segue between segments. Astrocade High-Resolution Upgrade - These five in-depth "packages" (documents) were created by Michael C. Matte in 1986. These documents explain how to upgrade a Bally Arcade/Astrocade from the "Consumer Mode," which uses the low-resolution display (160x102 pixels), to "Commercial Mode," which uses the high-resolution mode (320x204 pixels) used in arcade games such as Gorf and Wizard of Wor. Red White and Blue Ram Announcement - Ken Lill's September 12, 2016 formal announcement of the new RAM expansion that he is working on that will be Blue Ram compatible. Bagpipes (For Player Piano) - This music, created in BASIC, is used as a segue between segments. Floppy Days Podcast - Randy Kindig's vintage computing podcast for all types of retrocomputers. 2600 Connection - The online presence of the classic Atari 2600 newsletter 2600 Connection, originally edited by Tim Duarte, that began publishing in 1990. HSC01 Round 11: Galactic Invasion / Outpost 19 - Most-Recent round of the Astrocade High Score Club. Outpost 19 Map - A map for use with WaveMaker's game Outpost 19. MazeMaker II Music - This music, written by by Mike Peace for the WaveMakers' BASIC game MazeMaker II, is used as a segue between segments. This music sounds very similar to the theme for the movie Bladerunner. Astrocade BASIC Screen Layout: 88 x 160 Graph Paper - The archive includes three versions of the graph paper: a jpg, a TIFF image (with layers), and a TIFF (with no layers, "flattened"). To make the best use of the TIFF files requires a graphics editor (such as Photoshop or GIMP) that can deal with layered TIFF files. Mega Everdrive for the Sega Genesis - The Mega EverDrive v2 is a flashcart, which loads the ROMs in the console itself. The handling of the flashcart is very simple. Bruce Lee for Sega Master System - A homebrew game that attempts to recreate the classic Atari800/C64/Spectrum game Bruce Lee for the Master System. Collect the lamps and fight Green Yamo and the Ninja! Programmers of the Bally Arcade/Astrocade Built-in Programs - This is an attempt to credit those people who programmed the four programs built into the Bally Arcade/Astrocade. These programs include: Calculator (Jeff Fredricksen), Checkmate (Lou, or possibly correctly spelled "Low," Harp), Gunfight (Alan McNeil), Scribbling (Jay Fenton), and miscellaneous code (Ken Freund). Frenzy: A ColecoVision adaptation that beats the arcade original - By Chris Federico. The incredible Berzerk sequel is even better on the ColecoVision than in the arcade. Calm down! We wouldn't make such a claim without offering some great arguments, would we? Arcade Games Based Around Astrocade Chipset - By Adam Trionfo. Space Zap Arcade Game (1980 Midway Mfg.) - Video overview and review by "Keith's Arcade." The Adventures of Robby Roto - Thanks to the kind generosity of Jamie Fenton, the original ROM images for Robby Roto have been made available for free, non-commercial use. Wizard of Wor Disassembly - David Turner started the Z80 disassembly of the arcade game Wizard of Wor in 2002. Arcadian Newsletters Arcadian 1, no. 5 (Mar. 23, 1979): 31-38. - The fifth issue of the Arcadian newsletter. Arcadian 1, no. 6 (May. 4, 1979): 39-46. - The sixth issue of the Arcadian newsletter. Bally BASIC Hacker's Guide - This was the supplement written by Jay Fenton in 1979 that went along with the Bally BASIC manual. It's full of all sorts of goodies, most of which found their way into the AstroBASIC Manual... but not everything. Simon (Bally BASIC) - By Brett Bilbrey and Joe Borello. Bally BASIC, 300-baud program. First program printed in the Arcadian (Arcadian 1, no. 5 (Mar. 23, 1979): 35,38.) "One Player, Hand Controller. The computer shows you a pattern that you have to repeat, using joystick controls." Simon ("AstroBASIC") - By Brett Bilbrey and Joe Borello. This 2000-Baud version of Simon has been converted by Mike White to run under "AstroBASIC". First program printed in the Arcadian (Arcadian 1, no. 5 (Mar. 23, 1979): 35,38.) "One Player, Hand Controller. The computer shows you a pattern that you have to repeat, using joystick controls." Clock (Bally BASIC) - By J. Cousins. Arcadian 1, no. 5 (Mar. 23, 1979): 36. Clock is a 31-line Bally BASIC digital clock program that accepts hours, minutes and seconds. There is some error checking to make sure that the input data is accurate. It seems that FOR loops are used for the timing of the clock, so this program may not be that accurate. Convert Hex To Decimal (Bally BASIC) - By Ernie Sams. Arcadian 1, no. 5 (Mar. 23, 1979): 36. This program concerts a hex number to decimal using Bally BASIC. Man Vs Snake: The Long and Twisted Tale of Nibbler Official - HD Movie trailer for this 2013 videogame documentary. W&W Software Sales Program - Digitally archived Bally BASIC programs by Bob Weber. Self-Portrait: A Graphics Demo ("AstroBASIC") - By Guy McLimore, Jr. April 10, 1979. Hand-written BASIC listing from an unpublished Arcadian submission. This program draws a simple Bally Arcade unit. Fox & Hounds (Bally BASIC) - By Esoterica Ltd. Fox & Hounds is a classic new version of an old game. It's you with 4 pieces against the computer with only one! Move 'checkers style' to prevent the computer from intruding your territory. We guarantee that you will not beat the computer twice in a row. Programming Work Sheets - Page 3 of these worksheets seems to have been created (or inspired) by Chuck Thomka. This worksheet helps a BASIC user use the CX and CY valuables. Random Art (Bally BASIC) - By Ernie Sams. Arcadian 1, no. 6 (May. 4, 1979): 44. Random Art is a quick little moving box program. Arcadian At 2x Size (Bally BASIC) - By Glenn Pogue. Arcadian 1, no. 6 (May. 4, 1979): 45. "A further step along the way was taken by Glenn Pogue, who modified the "Game Over" routine of [Arcadian 1, no. 4 (Feb. 19, 1979): 25], making it print the word Arcadian in 2x normal letter size. I have not been able to totally duplicate this feat, I think it lies in the small differences in ROM locations that have previously been noted." Set I - Games and Fun - Eight programs written by David Stocker in 1979: Building Blox, Cheese Boxes, Color Match, Memory Match, Random, Rock/Paper/Scissors, Siren, and Slot Machine. Set II - Video Art - Fifteen programs written by David Stocker in 1979. This set includes the following video art programs: Building Blox, Color Box, Color War, Color Wheel, Electric Doily, Laser Duel, Perspective Box, Random Box, Random Line, Reverse Box, Rubber Band, Scroll Three, Scroll Two, Spiral, and Video Wallpaper. Classic Letters Tom Woods Letter (February 3, 1979) - February 3, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Tom Woods. The explanation of the "Onboard Calculator" in the March 1979 issue of Arcadian seems to be based on this letter. Bob seems to have expanded on the letter (by writing an example program). George Hale Letter (February 14, 1979) - February 14, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from George Hale. George Hale has used an ohmmeter to trace-out the 50-pin connector on the back of the unit. He has included an illustration of it. He's not sure he's 100% right, but he can see that every pin of the Z80 is present on the 50-pin connector. The Bally PA-1 Service Manual doesn't explicitly give this 50-pin information in an easy-to-read illustrated format (as George created), but the Bally Arcade's schematic does provide the necessary information for the information to be extrapolated. Also, the "third page" of this letter was written later. It is one-page letter to Charles Vollmer, Bally's National Service Manual. George explains that his letter to Bob crossed in the mail with his receiving the Bally Service Manual. He notes that most of the information he figured out is correct, although he numbered his 50-pin connector in reverse order from the one provided in the Service Manual. Boyd Perlson (February 26, 1979) - February 26, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Boyd Perlson. Boyd, who seems to be an accountant, has developed a system on the Bally for keeping track of his chargeable time for each office client. He would like to know how he can make printouts of this, rather than copying the information off of the TV screen. This is just another example of the Bally system being used in situations that I wouldn't have ever expected! James Wilkinson Letter (March 30, 1979) - March 30, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from James Wilkinson. This letter talks about the experience that James had running GAME OVER from the February 1979 issue. He had to substitute line 50, which originally had X=3164, with X=3159. This discrepancy is caused by differences between versions of the Bally Arcade's 8K ROM. Craig Anderson (of Hoover Anderson Research & Design) eventually covers this problem in detail (nearly four years later!) in the January 1983 issue of the Arcadian in an article called Sneak Up and Bite Ya Department. He did this because "AstroBASIC" programs that he would write would work on some versions of the Bally Arcade and not on others. Sneak Up and Bite Ya Department - This is a January 1983 article by Craig Anderson from the Arcadian which discusses the differences between different 8K on-board ROMs in the Bally Arcade/Astrocade. Brett Bilbrey Letter (April 10, 1979) - April 10, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Brett Bilbrey. Brett sends corrections for a typing mistake that he made in SIMON (printed in the March 1979 issue). Many people had called Brett directly to find out how to fix the program. Brett had NO idea how they got his phone number, but he figured that it must mean that they're very interested, and he thinks that's good. He expects "many letters" to be coming (to, possibly?, Bob) about this SIMON mistake. Some of the issues that people had were not understanding common computer notation, such as that the asterisk means to use the "times" key, the difference between "O" and "0," and the "not equal" sign. He wants people to write to him, NOT call, as that "ties up" the phone line for his family. Brett tried transferring programs over the phone using his Bally unit, but he doesn't go into details about how he does it. Brett put up flyers in the Computer Center (at, I suppose, the University of Michigan?) to form a Bally user group. The first meeting will be May 12, 1979. This is probably the user group that became the Michigan BUGs (Bally User Group) and eventually called the Michigan AstroBUGS. Brett has included two programs: a SIN subroutine and OTHELLO. He says, "No mistakes, I hope!" Othello was never published in the Arcadian, but it was published fourteen months later in the June 1980 issue of the Cursor newsletter. Brett Bilbrey Letter (April 14, 1979) - April 14, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Brett Bilbrey. Brett sends another correction for SIMON. He makes an odd-sounding, but understandable, statement when he says, "Many people have called in response to these errors. I am now writing to these people to help them with other questions and problems. So, if there had not been the mistakes, I would never have contact all these other Bally users in this area." "Also," Brett says, "many of these people now know of the user's meeting coming up May 12 at the Computer Center. The attendance is expected to be about 50 users." Brett notes that the April issue of BYTE, on page 193, has news called "Magnavox Files Suit on Microprocessor Video Game Patents." Included among the manufacturers they have filed suit against is Bally. As a follow-up to this 1979 news, I came across an 11-page Activision Case Reading by Ralph Baer, called "VIDEOGAME HISTORY: A little matter of record keeping." I am not sure when this was written, but it seems to be possibly from the late-90s or early-2000s. Mr. Baer states: "Let's examine the numerous stories floating around about the various videogame patent infringement lawsuits that were carried on by Magnavox and Sanders Associates, the owners of the seminal Baer patents and of the Baer, Rusch and Harrison patents. Those lawsuits started in the mid-seventies and ran all the way through the 1990's, the last of them for past infringement only, since the patents had long since lapsed. Bally, Seeburg, Mattel, Activision, Nintendo, Data East, Taito and others fought lengthy legal battles against the Magnavox/Sanders team in an effort to avoid having to pay license fees. They lost every one of those lawsuits, both in the initial actions in various Federal District Courts and finally, ignominiously, in the Court of Appeals. Then they had to pay up!" Brett also says, "One of the Arcadians [by which he means a subscriber to the Arcadian newsletter] who called, mentioned an article in a recent STOCK (I don't know the name) which states that Bally will be cutting funding to their home arcade program. This is said to be because of their casino opening in Atlantic City." I checked, and Bally's hotel/casino opened on December 29, 1979. Brett closes his letter with, "I am sorry for the mistakes in SIMON, and hope it did not cause too much trouble! But many users have learned something about debugging and a little about BASIC (sort of a learning experience). I will try to prevent further bugs from happening." Videogame History: A Little Matter of Record Keeping - By Ralph H. Baer John Collins Letter (April 12, 1979) - April 12, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from John Collins. John says, "Many of the stores in our area have not been able to be resupplied with the Bally Arcades and have not been able to get the new tapes [cartridges], even after two months wait." This delay is so bad, in fact, that John asks, "Do you know whether they are still manufacturing the basic unit?" John is working on a version of HANGMAN, BOWLING and a special spelling routine. He'll furnish a copy when the bugs are worked out. Bob was having trouble with John's CHECKERS program (which was eventually printed in the May 1979 issue of the Arcadian), but John didn't know of any glitches. He hoped that Bob might be able to provide what the game board looked like and what level the game was playing when a bug occurred. John explains that the number printed on the screen tells the user that the computer is "still working." The number also provides the "type of decision or level the computer was at when it made its move." John describes in detail what the computer is doing as each number is printed on the screen. John dictated this hand-written letter to his wife, which I found rather surprising. He ends his letter with, "My wife's arm is tired, so I must close now." I found that pretty amusing. Mary Stanke Letter (April 21, 1979) - April 21, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Mary Stanke. After reading Joe Sugarman's SUCCESS FORCES, I recognized Mary's name right away. Joe originally hired her as a secretary, and over the years she continued to move up in the company, eventually coming, it seems, his right hand man (woman?). This short letter informs Bob Fabris that JS&A can not provide him their "list of owners of the Bally, as JS&A has a policy wherein [they] do not divulge this type of information to anyone, nor would [Bob's] material be of interest to [JS&A] since [they] have discontinued offering the Bally Home Library Computer." So, now we know. By April, for certain, JS&A had given-up 100% on Bally! David Stocker Letter (April 23, 1979). - April 23, 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from David Stocker. David submits two of his tapes to Bob Fabris. These tapes contain a total of 23 programs. It seems that David took some of the programs from the Bally BASIC manual, changed them up a bit (or a lot-- I don't know) and sold them on tape and as program listings. David would like Bob to inform the "Arcadians" about his programs, which he sells as two sets for two different prices. If you buy one set, then the cost is $8 (or $4 if you return the tape). If you buy both sets, then the cost is $10 (or $6 if you return the tape). This returning of the tapes seems like it would have really complicated matters and been extremely labor intensive. There are three pages of hand-written instructions for some of the programs. Both sets of David Stocker BASIC programs were added to BallyAlley.com on March 13, 2015. Since these were available on tape-- they are some of the earliest third-party programs available on tape for a game console. Mr. Stocker even beat Activision to the punch, so it's too bad this stuff isn't up to say, "Pitfall" quality. The instructions for these two tapes provide the hand-written BASIC listings for each program. This was common even in the early days of the "Arcadian" newsletter. Mr. Stocker's script is quite small (or maybe it was reduced), plus the quality of the original paperwork was also difficult to make out, which makes these programs quite hard to read. The first tape is called "Set I - Games and Fun." It contains eight programs. The second tape is called "Set II - Video Art." It contains fifteen video art programs. John Perkins Letter (April or May 1979) - April or May 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from John Perkins. The Bally Astrocade only has 4K of RAM. This may seem like a plenty of RAM when compared to, say, the Atari 2600 (which only has 128 bytes of RAM), but 4,080 bytes of this 4096 total bytes of RAM is all dedicated to screen RAM. This makes up the entirety of the Astrocade's 102x160 bitmap screen (the remaining 16 bytes of RAM is called the scratch pad). Things begin to get really confusing when you consider that the BASIC cartridge doesn't contain any of its RAM, and yet it somehow (almost magically) it provides the BASIC programmer with 1.8K of RAM to program the system. How is this done? John Perkins wrote a hand-written letter to Bob Fabris which provides some of these answers. This letter is the background and research for which the tutorial in the May 1979 Arcadian called "Screen Operations" by Mr. Perkins is based. The tutorial, as printed, condenses the information that John provided to Bob. The tutorial also excludes a short example program that John wrote that shows how to display four colors on-screen at once. The letter explains how the BASIC program is hidden on the screen in plain sight by taking advantage of some of the Bally Arcade's Left-Right Color Boundary. In the early 2000s, I had a phone conversation with Mike White. I remembered that he said this article explained the details correctly, but that is was a bit muddled with some of its information. I couldn't remember exactly what Mike meant by this, so I emailed him back in February and he provided me with a full explanation. Mike says, "John Perkins declares the program to be "stored in the even bits" with the picture using the odd ones. This is "computer geek" thinking and not what an algebra teacher would say! In algebra the digits are numbered 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8! While in computers it's 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7! Now, turned around to their natural format they become; 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and 7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0 respectively! Therefore, hex 55 (01010101 binary) is EVEN and hex AA (10101010 binary) is odd in a computer ONLY! If you did this on a math test you would flunk out, and may be sent to the principal's office!" Doug Marker Letter (September 1979) - September 1979 letter to Bob Fabris from Doug Marker. Doug is a "computer specialist working on IBM compatible machines." It's notable that since this letter was written in 1979, Doug must have been working on IBM compatible mainframe computers, as the IBM personal computer wasn't released until August 12, 1981. Doug started his career as a hardware engineer, advanced to a software engineer and eventually became a Systems Engineer for IBM. This type of in-depth knowledge of hardware and software is a common thread among quite a few letters in the Bob Fabris Collection: many users had technical backgrounds. What sets this letter apart from so many of the other letters is Doug's location: he lives in Auckland, New Zealand! Doug doesn't explain how he came across the Bally Home Library Computer in New Zealand. Perhaps he ordered it directly from JS&A from the original September 1977 ad in Scientific American. What's significant about this letter is that there is no PAL version of the Bally Arcade system. Thus, Doug is using an NTSC system in a PAL territory. This isn't unheard of (many collectors do it today), but it's quite unusual (especially for 1979). Doug says, "I am presently building a PAL modulator so that I can get color. The USA has a different color transmission system called NTSC, so I have to modify my Bally." He talks about working on upgrading his unit's RAM internally to 8K or 16K, but won't work on this until he has the PAL modulator working correctly. Doug has done some exploration on his own of the built-in routines of the 8K system ROM, but he proposes a project that he would find very useful: a list of all of the built-in routines in the "resident ROM and the BASIC ROM." Doug goes into some depth on what he has discovered on his own about how the interrupts works on the Bally Arcade. Doug's final discussion is about changing the speed of his Bally Arcade unit, providing that the custom chips can handle it. [Which I don't think that they can do.] He intends to replace the basic timing of the microcomputer by replacing the master oscillator, which he has to do anyway so that he can get the PAL color working correctly. He plans on replacing the 14.31818 MHz with a 16Mhz crystal oscillator. Comments from Tom Meeks - Tom Meeks worked at Astrovision. Among the questions that he answers in this compilation of comments from the Bally Alley Yahoo Group are if any PAL Astrocade systems exist.  

Spelled backwards, the first game is “froG.” Spelled any way you want, the second game is obviously Sean’s favorite video game ever in the history of gaming. Oh…and did we say…contest?? That’s right — the winner of the Charles Nelson Reilly Contest is announced! Where else but Pie Factory Podcast?

Spelled backwards, the first game is “froG.” Spelled any way you want, the second game is obviously Sean’s favorite video game ever in the history of gaming. Oh…and did we say…contest?? That’s right — the winner of the Charles Nelson Reilly Contest is announced! Where else but Pie Factory Podcast?

We're back from a long day of 1980s-style silliness in the middle of Kornflake's home state of New Hampshire. Our first stop was Funspot, a giant amazing arcade packed with dozens of classic video and pinball games from decades ago. Alas, there was no Swimmer or Donkey Kong Junior. But there was plenty of Frogger, Dig Dug, Tron, Gorf, Donkey Kong (as seen in the movie The King of Kong), Crazy Kong (a weird alternate version of Donkey Kong), and just about everything else. Get yourself a billion tokens and spend the day. Our next stop was... a Journey concert. Because Journey is awesome. Just admit it to yourself and move on. And we have a friendly reminder that FuMPFest (our favorite funny music convention) is almost here (August 26-28 in Chicago), and Kornflake will be there with Dementia Water Aerobics! Get your tickets and room reservations now, kids! Also: It's Kevin Smith's birthday, and we're encouraging everyone to celebrate by shutting up, just like Silent Bob.

Episode 3 of the Bally Alley Astrocast covers the cartridge game Crazy Climber and the BASIC game (released on tape) Missile Defense. Chris and I discuss what we've been up to lately. Arcadian newsletter issues 1 and 2 (November and December 1978) are covered in detail.  We discuss a bit of feedback. Chris, Paul and I go discuss the very first ad for the Bally Home Library computer (from September 1977). I read from a few letters that JS&A (the mail order company that originally sold the Bally Home Library Computer) sent to customers. The show ends with a one-minute rendition of the Happy Days theme song. Recurring Links  BallyAlley.com - Bally Arcade / Astrocade Website What's New at BallyAlley.com Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Website Bally Alley Yahoo Discussion Group Bally Arcade / Astrocade Atari Age Sub-forum Bally Arcade/Astrocade High Score Club Bally Alley Astrocast Facebook Page Introduction  The Sister Bar - Barcade (Facebook Page) We Know Video Games - Local Albuquerque Videogame store (Facebook Page) The Adventures of Robby Roto - Bally Midway arcade game from 1981 that uses the Astrocade chipset (The International Arcade Museum) The Adventures of Robby Roto - Video Review (YouTube) The Adventures of Robby Roto - Arcade Flyer (Front) The Adventures of Robby Roto - Arcade Flyer (Back) Reverse-Engineering Robby Roto: A 1980s Embedded System Masquerading as an Arcade Game, by Stephen A. Edwards (January 2005) The Adventures of Robby Roto - 7-11 Slurpee Cup Tom Meeks Bally Alley Yahoo Group 'Comments' - Tom Meeks, the product manager for Astrocade, Inc., comments about, among other topics, Robby Roto (November 26, 2001) Astrovision Name Change - A short explanation of why Astrovision changed its name to Astrocade. Astro Bits. Electronic Games, 1.1 (Aug. 1982): 11. Print.) Creating a Hi-Res Astrocade - These five in-depth "packages" (documents) were created by Michael C. Matte in 1986. These documents explain how to upgrade a Bally Arcade/Astrocade from the "Consumer Mode," which uses the low-resolution display (160x102 pixels), to "Commercial Mode," which uses the high-resolution mode (320x204 pixels) used in arcade games such as Gorf and Wizard of Wor. Hi-Res Astrocade Pictures - Pictures of an Astrocade motherboard that was modified by John Perkins in the early 1980s so that it could access Hi-Res mode. Sea Wolf II Parts Catalog - This arcade game uses the Astrocade chipset. Sea Wolf II Schematics - This archive includes five schematics for the Seawolf II arcade game released in 1978. William Culver Feedback - Comments and replies left in the AtariAge forums. Z-GRASS / UV-1 Area on Bally Alley.com - General information about the ZGRASS hardware system and programming language. Animating the Death Star Trench - by Neesa Sweet. Larry Cuba and Tom Defanti had both worked with ZGRASS for the unreleased Bally Add-Under. ZGRASS was based on the earlier GRASS programming language. GRASS was used to create animation for the original 1977 "Star War" movie. The Very Best of Fantastic Films: The Magazine of Imaginative Media. Special Edition #22, February 1981.   Cartridge Review - Crazy Climber Crazy Climber Manual - (2011 Bally Arcade/Astrocade) Game Manual Crazy Climber (1980 Arcade Game) - Nihon Bussan Co. Ltd. (The International Arcade Museum) Crazy Climber Packaging - Pictures of the Crazy Climber cartridge, "box," and manual. Crazy Climber Source Code - This is the complete source code for the homebrew version of Crazy Climber, released by Riff Raff Games in 2011. This game was programmed by Michael Garber. Crazy Climber Video Review - Video review by Nice and Games. War Packaging - Pictures of the cartridge, "box," and manual for War, Michael Garber's first Astrocade homebrew game. Beyond Dark Castle - Michael Garber's first game, Beyond Dark Castle, was published in 1989 by Activision on the Commodore 64. (Lemon64.com) The Addams Family Video Review - Michael Garber wrote the Turbo-Grafx-16 CD-ROM game, The Addams Family, released in 1991. Nice and Games YouTube Channel - Video reviews for many classic systems, including several videos for the Astrocade. Tape Review - Missile Defense  Missile Defense Instructions - New Image Missile Defense Screenshots JS&A's First Ad for the Ballly Home Library Computer JS&A Home Library Comuter Advertisemen (B&W) - The very first ad for the Bally Arcade / Astrocade (at the time, called the Home Library Computer). This B&W ad was printed in the September 1977 issue of Scientific American. JS&A Home Library Comuter Advertisemen (Color) - The very first ad for the Bally Arcade / Astrocade (at the time, called the Home Library Computer). This color ad was printed JS&A's first catalog. Purchase Scientific American, July 1977 - A digital copy of the Scientific American magazine can be purchased directly from Scientific American's website. Scientific American (1845 - 1909) - All issues of Scientific American from 1845-1909 can be download for free. Success Forces Book (JS&A Ad) - Book, published in 1980, by Joe Sugarman, the president of the JS&A group. This ad appeared in Popular Mechanics in October 1980. Success Forces Book - Purchase Joe Sugarman's book from Amazon.com. Bally Fireball Pinball (JS&A Ad) - Professional Home Model version of Bally Pinball (Popular Science, May 1977) Bally Fireball Pinball (Video) - Video of the Professional Home Model version of Bally Pinball. IBM 5100 Information - Wikipedia's article on IBM's 5100 computer that was introduced in 1975 and cost about $9,000. In JS&A's ad for the Bally Home Library computer, they favorably compare it against this earlier system. Bally Check Self Diagnostic Hardware (Pictures) - Bally Check (AKA as BalCheck) plugs into the 50-pin connector at the back of the Bally Arcade / Astrocade and is used to test the units for defects. Released by Richard Belton. Bally Check 2K Z80 ROM Source Code - Source code for the Bally Check diagnostic hardware. Bally Check Self Diagnostic Hardware (Documentation) - BalCheck Support Circuitry, BalCheck information and BalCheck Instruction Manual (with source-code). Dick Ainsworth Interview - Wrote the Bally BASIC user manual, programmed the Bally BASIC Program Sampler tape (which contained eight programs) and the Speed Math / Bingo Math cartridge. Dick Ainsworth 'Comments' - A compilation of posting that Dick Ainsworth made to the Bally Alley Yahoo group in 2002. Ainsworth & Partners, Inc. - Dick Ainsworth, Personal Page. Arcadian Newsletter  Arcadian 1, no. 1 (Nov. 6, 1978): 1-8. - The first issue of the Arcadian newsletter. Arcadian 1, no. 2 (Dec. 4, 1978): 9-16. - The second issue of the Arcadian newsletter. Music-Cade by Ed Horger - In the Arcadian segment, a "Toy Organ Keyboard" is mentioned. I remembered this previously unpublished article form the Bob Fabris Collection. It contains suggestions, ideas and methods on how to hook up a music keyboard to a Bally Arcade/Astrocade. Includes a machine language 3-voice music program. Blue Ram Modem Interface Owner's Manual (with optional Printer Port) - An add-on for the Blue Ram unit that allowed the addition of a modem and printer. The Blue Ram Utility was used to control the modem. Chessette by Craig Anderson - A two-player chess game written in Bally BASIC. Published in Cursor 2, no. 4 (November 1980): 74-75. Connecting a Printer to the Bally Tape Interface - "The Bally BASIC audio cassette interface was originally designed to have a third 1/8" jack into which a printer could be plugged." The Bally BASIC Hacker's Guide by Jay Fenton, published in about 1979, gives the required details on how to modify the interface for use with a printer. The finished modification provides a TTL level RS232 standard ASCII at 300 baud. Keyboard Attachment - Basic instructions and schematic on how to hook up a Jameco 610 keyboard to the Bally tape interface (Arcadian 2, no. 8 (Jun. 23, 1980): 69.) Blue Ram Keyboard Owner's Manual - These are directions on how to assemble the Blue Ram Keyboard. 3x5 Character Set Review - This article is by Al Rathmell. It was submitted to the Arcadian newsletter on September 15, 1982. Arcadian RDOS 1.0 by Stu Haigh - This is a CP/M compatible resident Disk Operating System written in 1980. This code is designed to interface into the Cromemco software system and is provided with an autoload feature that will load track zero, sector zero of Drive A starting at RAM location 0080. Control will then be passed to the just loaded code at location 0080. The code uses a 5501 as a COM. controller and a 1771 Flex Disk controller. It will support four 5 1/4", or two 5 1/4" and one 9", or two 9" disk drives. Three Voice Music with Bally BASIC - Article by George Moses and program (probably by George Moses and Brett Bilbrey) from the "AstroBASIC" manual. Game Over Tutorial by Tom Wood - This tutorial, from January 1979, provides a machine language subroutine usable to BASIC users so that they can print "GAME OVER" in large letters on the screen using a subroutine that is built into the Bally's 8K System ROM. BASIC Zgrass--A Sophisticated Graphics Language for the Bally home Library Computer - Article by Tom DeFanti, Jay Fenton, and Nola Donato. Published in Computer Graphics, 12, no. 3, (August 1978): 33-37. ZGRASS Documentation - Various documentation on ZGRASS, including the user's manuals. Bally On-Board ROM Subroutines - Originally called Executive Software Description and submitted to the Arcadian by Tom Wood on October 7, 1978. This was later republished by the Cursor newsletter without credit being given to Tom Wood. This booklet explains what the On-Board ROM routines do that are built into the Bally Arcade/Astrocade 8K ROM. This manual is used as a reference for BASIC programmers so that they can save a few bytes when programming and also take advantage of the faster routines that machine language offers. Peek 'n Poke Manual by Brett Bilbrey - An introduction to Astrocade machine language programming in Bally BASIC. Although the manual doesn't credit Brett Bilbrey, he gave all this information in 1980 to Fred Cornett of the "Cursor Group." Bally Videocade Cassettes Catalog - This catalog contains these 13 cartridges, including some that were not released. Classic Letters from JS&A National Sales Group  February 28, 1978 letter to JS&A Customer - From William Mitchell; JS&A National Sales Group; Marketing Director. "Enclosed you will find your Bally Home Library Computer." JS&A urges their customers to order the add-on soon to receive free items such as a modem and diagnostic cartridge. October 11, 1978 letter to JS&A Customer - From William Mitchell. "We trust you have your Bally Home Library Computer and have found it quite satisfactory." JS&A asks their customers if they want to wait for the Bally add-on module. October 19, 1978 letter to JS&A Customer (Robert Simpson) - From William Mitchell. "As you are well aware, there has been a delay in the shipment of your Bally unit. The delays have been caused by almost every problem imaginable and have lasted almost one year now." End-Show Music  Happy Days Theme ("AstroBASIC" Program) - This is the theme music for the "Happy Days" television show. Peggy Gladden converted this song to "AstroBASIC" and the program was included on the Michigan Astro Bugs Tape 2. Happy Days Theme (MP3) - This is the theme music for the "Happy Days" television show. This is an mp3 recording of Peggy Gladden's "AstroBASIC" program. Michigan Astro-Bugs Club, Tape #2 (Tape Picture) - This tape contained a compilation of programs for "AstroBASIC." Michigan Astro-bugs Tape #2 Compilation - Eight AstroBASIC programs by various authors. This is the complete tape working as intended; you choose a game from the menu and it will load automatically.  

The show's two hosts discuss what will be covered in future episodes of the Bally Alley Astrocast. Recurring links: BallyAlley.com - Bally Arcade / Astrocade Website What's New at BallyAlley.com Orphaned Computers & Game Systems Website Bally Alley Yahoo Discussion Group Bally Arcade / Astrocade Atari Age Sub-forum Bally Arcade/Astrocade High Score Club Episode Links: Bally Arcade / Astrocade FAQ Bally Software Downloads - Cassette TapesAudio Recordings from Bob Fabris Collection Arcadian Newsletter Software and Hardware for the Bally Arcade - A Technical Description Picture of the Crazy Climber homebrew cartridge Picture of the War homebrew cartridge ZGRASS Documentation Arcade Games Based on the Astrocade Chipset Gorf Arcade Game Seawolf II Arcade Game Space Zap Arcade Game Wizard of Wor Arcade Game Full Bally Alley Astrocast - Episode 0 Transcription Adam: Hi, everybody.  My name's Adam Trionfo, otherwise known as BallyAlley on the AtariAge forums.  And I'm here with... Chris: Chris, otherwise known as "Chris." Adam: And you're listening to the zero-ith episode of Bally Alley Astrocast.  See, I barely know the name of it yet. Chris: I think me and Adam believe that we thought up the name Astrocast ourselves, and we came to find out that there had already been one, it just hadn't been started. And I guess it was Rick and Willy (I think it was only those two). Adam: Yup. Chris: And, it kinda sat there for a year.  Hopefully they will be contributing to Adam's podcast here. Adam: I don't think of this as "Adam's podcast." (And I just used finger-quotes, sorry about that.)  This is our podcast.  Chris and I are recording this right now.  Also, Paul Thacker, who is a regular of the Bally Alley Yahoo group (which we can talk about at a later time).  We're hopefully going to do this together at some point.  I wanna sound natural as possible for this podcast.  So, I'm trying to not read anything off a piece of paper.  I don't like the sound of my voice, and the fact that I'm letting you hear it means that I love you guys. Chris: It's a great level of trust he's exhibiting, you guys.  Plus, I would immediately take his script away from him if he had one because... Adam: Oh, thanks, Chris! Chris: Yeah.  Extemporaneous is more fun to do, and I think it's more fun to listen to. Adam: So, in saying that, we do have some notes we wanna talk about. For this episode we wanna basically go over what we want to cover.  Which is what people seem to do in these episodes.  Saying, "Hey, there's gonna to be an episode of a podcast called 'this'."  And, that's what we're doing here.  So, here's what we're going in our podcast number zero. Chris: It was always funny to me, like oxymoron, like: episode number zero. Adam: Right.  Right. Chris: Let's go negative one.  Let's be rebels. Adam: You may or may not know what a Bally Arcade, or an Astrocade, is.  It was a console that was developed in about 1977.  It was released in 1977, but the first units were not actually shipped, for various reasons, until January 1978.  And very few people got them.  They were first released by catalog-only, by a company called JS&A.  Those systems had overheating problems.  Most of them were returned-- or many of them were returned.  JS&A only sold approximately 5,000 units (so it says on the Internet).  I don't know where that number is quoted from.  I've never been able to find the source.  Bally eventually started selling them through Montgomery Ward.  Now, Bally also had something called the Zgrass that it wanted to release.  This was going to be expanding the unit into a full-fledged computer.  This never was released.  The Bally system itself did not come with BASIC, but it was available nearly from the start.  Many people used it.  A newsletter formed around it called the ARCADIAN.  The system has 4K of RAM and it does not use sprites, but it could move object just as well as the Atari [VCS] and other systems of its time period.  It could show 256 separate colors and through tricks and machine language, it could show all of them on the screen at once, but not normally in a game.  Although there are a few screens that did it (but not actively during a game).  The system is fun to play... if you can find one that works.  If you don't already have one, you're going to discover (if you go searching for one) they're not inexpensive.  They're becoming pricey on the Internet because of the overheating problems they had, since the beginning (with the data chip), you will find that if you own [should have said buy] one now, you're getting a unit that "has not been tested," which means, of course, it is broken.  If you find one on the Internet that says, "Not tested," please, do not buy it.  Just let it stay there and let someone else buy it.  And, when they get it and it doesn't work, if they're surprised then they did not read the "Bally/Astrocade FAQ."  We'll go into much greater depth about this system in the next episode.  I just wanted to let you know that's the system we'll be talking about.  It has a 24-key number pad.  It has a controller that is-- is it unique?  Well, I think it's unique. Chris.  Um-hum. Adam: It has a paddle built into the top knob.  It's a knob-- it's called.  And it has a joystick-- an eight-directional joystick.  It's built like a gun controller-style pistol.  It's called a "pistol grip."  It's sorta shaped like one, if you picture a classic arcade-style gun, and then just cut off the barrel.  That's basically what you have.  Something that was originally mentioned, and I think Bally might have called it that for two years, are Videocades.  Videocades are the cartridges.  These were actually also referred to as cassettes.  These are not tapes.  These are about the size of a tape, but they are ROM cartridges.  In the beginning they held 2K and later on they held 4K for Bally.  Astrovision, or Astrocade, Inc., later released some 8K games in about 1982.  Those were usually considered the best games on the system because they had more ROM to spare and to put more features into the games.  Now, BASIC was available from about the third or the fourth month after the system was released to the public.  It was originally called BALLY BASIC.  It did not come with a tape interface, but one was available for it.  BALLY BASIC cost approximately $50.  The tape interface, which could allow the user to record at 300-baud... which is pretty slow.  To fill the 1.8K of RAM, which is available to BASIC, would take about four minutes to load a complete program.  Better than retyping it every time, isn't it?  But, it's not a great speed.  Later on, the system (when it was rereleased), it actually came with BASIC.  It was still called BALLY BASIC, but today to differentiate it from the original BASIC cartridge, most people call it ASTROCADE BASIC or AstroBASIC.  The reason for this is the later BASIC has a tape interface built into the cartridge itself.  This can record and playback information at 2000-baud, which is an odd number because it's not a multiple of 300.  Because when 300-baud tapes were speeded up by a newer format later, they were 1800-baud.  Tapes were available, which meant the user community was able to grow because they could share programs.  It was sometimes a problem for them because I could record a program on my tape drive and I could send it to you in the mail.  And you'd say, "It's not loading.  It's not loading!"  Well, you'd sometimes have to adjust your read and write heads to match it.  Imagine having to do that today?  To having to... uh, I wouldn't want to think about doing it.  So, even if you can believe it, with that kind of an issue, with users having to adjust their tape systems in order to load programs sometimes, there were commercially released tapes.  These have been archived and are available and you can download them from BallyAlley.com. Chris: So, the play and record head on anybody's tape recorder... there was the possibility that it had to be adjusted to play a tape his buddy had sent him because he had a tape recorder with differently aligned play and record heads in it-- I mean, that's something else! Adam: Now, the recorders that were normally used were called shoebox recorders.  These were recommended.  If you tried to record to a home stereo, maybe Chris can understand this better and tell me more about it in a later episode, but you really couldn't record to one and then get that information back.  I'm not sure why.  But, the lower quality that was available from the low-end tapes that were less expensive were actually better.  Just like there were better audio tapes available, which you should not have used for data because... because, I don't know why!  So, ideal podcast length.  In my mind I see about an hour, or an hour and a half.  While I listen to many podcasts, among them Intellivisionaries (and others) that are not short.  And, as has been discussed on the Intellivisionaries, there's a pause button.  So, if somehow we do end up at five hours, please understand that there is a pause button.  If we end up less, you don't need to use the pause button.  Isn't that great?  Technology... right? Chris:  Well, a very good idea that you had was obviously to conduct interviews with some, I guess, what, Bally game writers, people who are really knowledgeable about it. Adam: Well, there's quite a few people I'd like to interview.  If we can find people from the 70s and the 80s, and even now, there's some people who have written some modern games-- at least written some programs for the system. Chris: It would help if they're still around. Yeah. Adam: Something that's interesting, that I wanna use, is that there's actually recorded interviews that we have from the early 80s and late 70s of phone conversations that Bob Fabris did (from the ARCADIAN publisher).  There was a newsletter called the ARCADIAN and it published for seven years (from 1978 to 1984 or 85, depending on how you view things a bit).  He recorded some conversations with some of the more prominent people of the time. Chris: That's cool! Adam: We've made WAV files of those or FLAC files and they're available for download (or many of them are already) from BallyAlley.  But, it might be interesting to take out snippets from some of those and put them in the show.  I hadn't thought of that before, but that's why we're going over this. Chris: Yeah.  Absolutely. Adam: Right. Chris: That's really cool.  We say Bally Astrocade, like we say Atari 2600, but it was never actually called the Astrocade when Bally owned it. Adam: Not when Bally owned it; no.  But after it was resold they had the right to use the name Bally for one year. Chris: Oh. Adam: And Astrovision did do that.  So, for a short time, for one year, it was known as the Bally Astrocade.  And it actually was called that. Chris:  Oh.  Okay. Adam:  But, somehow that name has stuck.  And that is what the name is called.  And many people think it was called that from the beginning.  It was originally released under a few different names, which we'll get into at a later date.  I think of it... I like to think of it as the Bally Arcade/Astrocade. Chris: Yeah. Adam: It depends on how you look at it.  Sometimes I go with either.  Sometimes I go with both.  Sometimes I call it the Bally Library Computer.  It just on how I'm feeling at the time.  So, we also don't plan to pre-write episodes.  You might have noticed that by now.  We do have a list that we're going by, and we do wanna use notes, but reading from a script is not what I wanna do.  I don't want to sound dry and humorless.  I like to have Chris here making fun of me-- well, maybe not making fun of me, but, you know, Chris here... helping me along to give me moral support.  And I enjoy that I'll be doing this with him, and hopefully Paul as well. Chris:  It is strange for you and I to sit around talking about old videogames. Adam: Oh... isn't it!  Isn't it though! Chris: [Laughing]  Some of the sections that Adam has come up with are really interesting.  They sound like a lot of fun.  And what's cool is that they are necessarily unique to a podcast about the Bally console.  For instance, we were talking about the ARCADIAN newsletter.  There's going to be a segment-- it will probably be every episode because there is a LOT of source material.  This segment will delve into ARCADIAN notes and letters that did not make it into the published newsletter.  It's kind of a time capsule.  In some ways it will be fascinating even for people who don't know a lot about the Bally Astrocade because what you're getting is correspondence from the 70s and 80s, before anybody really knew what was gonna happen with the 8-bit era, you know? Adam: There's material in the archives.  All of this material is from Bob Fabris.  He was the editor or the ARCADIAN.  Two people, Paul Thacker and I, we bought that collection from an individual who had bought it in the early 2000s directly from Bob.  It was never broken up, so it's all together in about eight boxes-- large boxes-- all in different folders.  Bob Fabris kept a really, really detailed collection and in great order.  He kept it in that shape from 1978 until, what?, about 2001 or 2002 when he sold it. Chris: Wow. Adam: So the fact that it survived and then someone else bought it and didn't want to break it up and sell it is pretty amazing to me.  We were able to pool our funds together, Paul and I, and purchase it.  All of it has been scanned.  Not all of it is available.  Oh, and by the way, BallyAlley, in case there are some listeners who don't know... BallyAlley is a website that I put together.  It's mostly from the archives of the ARACADIAN.  But, there's a lot, a LOT, of interesting material there.  If you're interested in the Bally Arcade, you should check it out.  It's BallyAlley.com. Chris: Adam is being kinda modest.  He's done a lot of work on this.  You're gonna find archived materials that will make your eyeballs pop out of your head. Adam: [Laughing] Chris: You know, he's... Adam: If you saw Chris, then you'd know that's true. Chris:  Yes.  Absolutely.  I'm recording blind.  You know, he's very picky about high quality scans (as high as possible only).  He's vey meticulous about it.  And I definitely recommend that you guys visit BallyAlley period com.  I know it's a lost battle; humor me.  They're not dots.  All right... anyway. Adam: All right.  Cartridge reviews.  The Bally Arcade... it has a lot of perks, one of them is not it's huge library of games.  I take that back.  It has a huge library of games.  Many of them, as some people may not even know who are listening to this, were released on tapes.  But the vast majority of games, that people would think of as the console games, are cartridges.  The Bally could "see" 8K at once.  It didn't have to bankswitch or anything like that in order to do that.  There was never a bankswitching cartridge that was released for the Bally.  At least at that time.  Since the library is so small, I'm not sure if we're planning to cover a game per episode, or since we plan to cover all of the games (and there are certainly less than fifty, if you include prototypes) and some of them are not games.  Some of them were... BIORHYTHM, so that you could know when it would be a good time to get it on with your wife to have a baby.  You know... [laughing] So, if that's what you wanna talk about and listen to... write us and say, "That's sounds great.  I want you to tell me when I can get my wife pregnant." [laughing]  The other day my wife was taking a look at a game I was playing for a competing console, the Atari 8-bit game system. Chris: I thought you were gonna say the Arcadia. Adam: No, not the Arcadia.  I was playing a SUPER BREAKOUT clone.  She took a look at it and didn't know what it was.  I said, "You know, it's a BREAKOUT clone."  She's like, "I don't know what that is."  I said, "No.  Look at the game for a minute.  It looks like BREAKOUT."  And she still didn't get it.  And I said, "Okay, so you're gonna have a ball that bounces off a paddle and it's gonna hit the bricks up above."  And she goes, "I've never seen this before."  And I said, "Okay.  You've heard of PONG, right?"  She's like, "Well, yes I've heard of PONG."  I said, "It's that." Chris: [Laughing] It's that... except better.  Between you and all of the people you're in contact with from the Bally era, and people like Paul.  People who actually wrote games back then... Adam: Um-hum. Chris: Information about how the console works and its languages and stuff... is that pretty-much taken care of, or are there more mysteries to be solved. Adam: There's some mysteries.  The neat thing about this system was that even in the ARCADIAN, in the early issues, you could get access, for like $30, to the photocopies that were used at Nutting Associates.  These are the people who actually designed the Bally system for Bally.  They did arcade games-- we'll go more into that in another episode.  This information was available to subscribers... almost from the get-go.  So, if you wanted to have a source listing of the 8K ROM, you could get it.  Of course, it came with a "Do Not Replicate" on every single page, but... it was... you were allowed to get it.  You could purchase it.  It was freely available and it was encouraged for users to use this information to learn about the system. Chris:  The reason I ask is that I'm wondering what the next step is.  Whenever I think of this console... do people refer to it as a console or a computer, by and large? Adam: A game system in my eyes.  I mean, it's a console.  People don't think of it as a computer.  No. Chris:  I'll start over.  Whenever I think about this system, what usually comes to mind is the fact that it is unexploited.  And that is perhaps the, not quite an elephant in the room, but that is the only real disappointment about the Astrocade is that there are these amazing, vivid, brilliant, games.  I mean, the arcade conversations on the Astrocade are, for all intents and purposes, arcade perfect.  This was a superior machine.  And yet, players were teased with a handful of astonishing games and then that was it.  So, "what could have been," comes to mind for me a lot.  And the phrase tragically untapped.  What I'm wondering is why nobody has brought up the initiative of making new games.  The last two were arcade conversations.  They were not original, but they are, of course, phenomenal.  I mean, two of the best titles, you know are WAR (which is a conversion of WORLORDS) and, of course, CRAZY CLIMBER.  You were in charge of all the packaging and EPROM burning for those.  I'm not saying... Adam:  Partially.  Partially.  For all of one of them I was, but the other one was handled by a man name Ken Lill.  I did... I came up with the package design and stuff like that, and made a lot to make it happen.  But, I didn't program the games.  No. Chris:  Right.  But I mean, somebody else did the coding, but didn't you have all the cartridge shells.  And you were burning... Adam:  I made sure it all happened. Chris:  Okay. Adam:  Yeah.  I mean, I didn't do all the work though. Chris:  Okay. Adam: It helped that I was there.  Put it that way. Chris:  We're talking about CRAZY CLIMBER, mainly, right?  Because you helped with WAR as well. Adam: Yeah.  I did both.  Yeah. Chris.  Okay. Adam:  Um-hum. Chris:  And you wrote some of the back of the box copy. Adam:  I did all of that.  Yeah. Chris:  As expensive and limited as such a run would be, that's not really quite what I'm talking about.  As having to go through all that to give people physical, boxes copies, I guess.  Another reason why people might not have written anymore Astrocade games is that the relatively few surviving consoles could be prone to overheating themselves to death at any time.  But, then there's emulation. Adam: Right. Chris:  MESS is all that we have, and it's not perfect.  So, wouldn't that be the first step for somebody to write a really good Astrocade emulator?  I would do it, if I knew how. Adam: Yes.  If there's one of you out there who's like, "Who couldn't write an Astrocade emulator?" Chris: Yes. Adam:  Please, would you do me a favor and send that to me tomorrow? Chris:  It's time.  ...Tomorrow... [laughing] Adam: Something that I wanna get at is that MESS does work for most games.  There are a few that don't work.  Some of them used to work and now they're broken.  MESS was updated to make it "better," and now some games don't work.  I don't understand why that happened.  The biggest drawback to MESS is that is doesn't support the tape.  It doesn't support-- it supports BASIC, but you can't save or load programs.  And since they're hundreds... there's probably over 500 programs available.  And there's... many, many of those have already been archived and put on BallyAlley.com.  So you can try them out on a real system, but not under emulation.  And it's quite easy to use under real hardware.  We'll get into that at another time too. Chris: In terms of cartridge reviews.  And I'm only going to say this once.  Thanks, by the way, for saying that this is our podcast Adam: Sure. Chris:  I thought I was just being a guest.   Adam:  No.  No... you're just a gas. Chris:  I'm just a gas.  So, should I help you pay for the the Libsyn? Adam: I think we'll be okay. Chris: All right. Adam: All of our users are going to send donations every month. Chris:  Oh, that's right. Adam: [Laughing] Just kidding there, guys. Chris:  So, I'm just going to say this once.  And you're welcome.  Review is a word I have a problem with when it comes to my own, well, stuff I write.  But now, apparently, stuff I talk about.  Because I associate the word review with critics.  I think I was telling you the other day, Adam... Adam:  Yes, you were. Chris:  I would never hit such a low level of self-loathing that I would ever call myself a critic.  Talk about a useless bunch.  For me they'll be overviews.  It's very picky.  Very subjective.  It has nothing to do with anybody else.  You wanna consider yourself reviews-- totally respect that-- but I don't do reviews.  So, either that, or I'm in some sort of really intense denial.  But, personal reflections on games, reviews leaves out... when you call something a review, it leaves out the fact that taste is subjective.  It's a personal thing.  I can't review food for you and have you think, "Oh, now I like that food I used to hate."  One's tastes in games, music, etcetera is just as personal.  So, Adam was saying that there's so few of them, that we're not going to cover a game every episode.  So, what we're going to do is alternate, so that you don't go completely without game "content" (isn't that a buzzword, a frequent word online now: "content"). Adam:  That is.  Yeah. Chris:  Everybody wants content.  I gotta table of contents for ya.  We're going to alternate actual commercial cartridge games with commercially available tape games and even type-in programs, because there were a lot of good ones. Adam: Most of them were written in BASIC. Chris:  Which is just awesome to me. Adam:  Yeah. Chris:  We were thinking of alternating the games stuff I was just talking about with this: Adam:  The Astrocade system, well, the Bally Arcade system, as it was originally designed for home use, it had two versions.  There was an arcade version, which came out in 1978 with the first game, Sea Wolf II in the arcades. And there was the version that was released for the home.  It had 4K of RAM, while the version in the arcades had 16K (and some additional support), but they use the same hardware (like the data chip). They're so similar in fact, that many of the systems games were brought home as cartridges.  They don't use the same code.  They are not-- you can't run code for the arcade and vice-versa.  You can, for instance, take a Gorf and run Gorf on Wizard of Wor hardware.  It'll look the wrong direction, but you can do that.  The systems are very similar in that respect.  But, you can actually take an Astrocade (and it has been done before) that is a 4K unit, and actually do some fiddling with it, change the ROM a bit, give it more RAM (there's more that you have to do)-- there's actually an article about it, it was written in-depth (it's available on BallyAlley, the website).  And you can make it into an arcade unit.  It wouldn't be able to play the arcade games, but it would have access to 16K of RAM and that sort of thing. Chris:  When you say Sea Wolf II, you mean the arcade game was running this hardware that you're talking about. Adam:  Right. Chris: Much of which was also in the console. Adam:  Yes. Chris:  Okay.  And that goes for WIZARD OF WOR, GORF, SPACE ZAP.  Well, that explains why there are so many arcade perfect home versions. Adam.  Um.  Right.  They don't share the same code, but they are very similar.  The Hi-Res machine could display, in what was considered then a high resolution.  The Bally display in 1/4 of that resolution.  I think perhaps will have the first episode cover specifically the hardware of the astrocade. Chris: So, you are saying that this segment would cover the arcade games that used the astrocade hardware, and I find that really, really interesting (because I never knew that).  I thought that they were just, you know, very similar and some of the same people created the home versions, but I didn't realize that... I never realized they were so close. Adam: So, another segment that we plan to do is called, "What the Heck?!?"  It's going to focus on unusual hardware and maybe even released items, but something that, while it was released through the Arcadian newsletter or perhaps the Cursor newsletter (and maybe even one of the other small newsletters that were around for a short time for this system exclusively).  When we're talking about a released product here, we are probably talking about in the tens-- the twenties.  I mean, new homebrew games get a wider release than games that are considered released back then.  Maybe not the games, but hardware peripherals.  There was something called the Computer Ear which could do voice recognition-- sort of.  But the software for that isn't available, I don't think… maybe it is.  I have the hardware, but I've never tried running before. Chris:  We're also gonna-- I say "we," even though Adam's knowledge about, well pretty-much all of this stuff is much greater than mine, hoping to cover the Zgrass keyboard/computer.  Is that a fair description? Adam:  Yeah.  That's what you would read on the Internet about it.  And if you can call that true, then that's what it is. Chris:  Right.  And not just on the WikiRumor page. Adam:  Yeah. Chris:  It's a very unusual system and it's worth learning about.  See, you don't hear about any of this stuff anywhere else and that's what's really cool about this podcast.  Everything you've got archived, everything you've learned, you just never read about it back then, you know? Adam:  It was available to read about, but not in the normal sources that people read about the Astrocade.  Which would have been Electronic Games and some of the other computing magazines at the time.  But they didn't talk about, I mean, it was mentioned briefly... but only as a product that was supposed to come out.  But, in a way, ZGrass did come out.  The product, the language, ZGRASS, was available.  There was a hardware system, a computer (which could cost upwards of $10,000) that used some of the custom chips that were available in the Astrocade.  It was called the UV-1.  It was-- I'll get more into that when I cover the Zgrass system in some future episode, which is why we're talking about it here.  I would like to discover more about it.  I wanna learn.  I want-- I don't think I can use it, because it has not been archived.  But, the documentation is available on BallyAlley.  I have that.  Maybe I'll go through that a little bit.  It was... something to learn about and share... Chris:  Yeah.  Really cool. Adam:  It's all about sharing, man.  And caring.  Okay.  The Bally Arcade and Astrocade history.  History of the month is something that we are going to have.  It's going to start with the "Arcadians" #1, which was the first available newsletter.  The "Arcadians" was a newsletter that published for just four issues.  And it was published-- and it was only two pages.  The first one, I think, was only front and back.  Then, I think, maybe the next one was four pages, but that was only two pages front and back.  It was really just a round-robin letter.  It predates the "Arcadian."  It was only available to a few people.  These have been archived.  You can read them online.  I'm gonna start there.  As soon as BASIC was released, it took a few months after the Astrocade came out (excuse me, before the Bally Arcade came out).  Once that system came out with Bally BASIC (which required a separate BASIC interface so that you could record to tape), then Bob Fabris, the editor, said, "We've got something we can explore together.  Let's do this.  Let's pool our resources and come up with a way to share information.  That was what they were all about.  They did this very early on.  That's something that interests me greatly about the system, and I want to be able to share that and compare it with knowledge of other systems that were out at the time. Chris:  That's really cool.  I mean, it's one of the earliest systems of any kind, that I know of, that actually did have a community.  You know, that were really trying to goad each other into doing new things and write programs and stuff like that.  I mean, I can't imagine there was an Altair community.  I'm trying to... Adam: There was an Altair community. Chris:  Oh.  Well, but they were all very rich.  And they had a lot of time on their hands! Adam:  ...those switches, right? Chris:  I hope that you're gonna to do a "What's New on Bally Alley" I know I keep going on about this, but that is just an amazing website to me.  You do a lot of updates to it, so when you do add new things to the BallyAlley website.  And, who knows, maybe this will give you a reason to add more things to the website. Adam:  It could.  The website isn't updated very frequently.  I have great intentions, everyone.  So, if you've been wanting to see updates, give me some motivation to do some.  I don't mean send me money.  We, as the two of us (and other people on the Yahoo group), we do like to BS about the system.  But, there's so much information in my archives, and there are only a few people who share it with me.  Basically, two other people.  We're thinking about putting it up on archive.org, but some of it is kind of-- I think it should, might remain hidden from viewers, even though it might be archived there.  Because, it's personal letters that, I think, probably shouldn't be shared.  Because, there's personal information there.  I mean, when I got the collection, there was actually checks still that were un-cashed in it that were written in the 70s. Chris:  Wow! Adam:  Those kind of things I did not scan.  Because I was like… what? [sounds of exasperation and/or confusion], it was very strange to me.  They are un-canceled, unused checks out there in some boxes that were people subscribing to the newsletter.  I'm not sure why he didn't cash the checks, but... they're there! Chris:  So you could have them in the archive, I guess. Adam:  Right.  But I don't think I wanna-- I don't think that sort of information should be shared. Chris:  Oh, I agree.  But, you know, I mean back then a dollar, back then, was the equivalent of fifty grand today.  Don't you love it when people say stuff like that?  It's like... well, you're going a little overboard. Adam:  Right.  [Laughing]  We had to walk up and down the hill both ways... Chris: Both ways! Adam:  ...in the snow.  Pick up the coal from between the tracks. Chris:  Any Cosby reference, I'm on!  What I'm hoping... do you think that Paul is going to take part in some way in this first episode? Adam:  I would like him to.  If we take a long time, then probably. Chris:  Well, I'm hoping we're going to hear a lot from Paul Thacker. Adam:  Paul Thacker, he will definitely join us, at least, for the... if he can't make it into this zero episode, he will be in for the first one.  He's a good guy.  He has helped me-- more than helped me!-- he has... he is in control of archiving tapes.  That is his department.  After I wasn't really updating the site too much anymore (I actually had even pulled away from it), in about 2006, Paul Thacker came forward and he introduced himself to me through an email.  He said he would like to help with archiving tapes.  And... he really, really has.  He's the leader in that department.  He has contacted people to make archiving programs possible.  He has followed up with people with large collections.  He has archived them.  Not all of it is available on the website yet, but it is... it has been done.  They're truly archived.  And, what's neat about Paul he has tapes that were available between users.  If you're familiar with growing up with these old systems, you might have had a computer like an Atari 800 or a Commodore 64.  Maybe you had some tapes that you recorded to (or disks).  You would write a "Game Number 1."   And then that was what you'd name the program-- even if the program was a type-in from a "Compute!" magazine or an "Antic" magazine. Chris:  Oh, you would save it as "Game Number 1" Adam:  This is how these tapes were.  People would write one program on it... maybe, maybe even give it a clueless name, that meant nothing to either Paul or I.  Paul would record the whole side.  Paul would go through and say, "What's on here?"  Paul would find a program.  Paul would find SIX different versions of that program!  Paul would find programs that had been halfway recorded over.  Paul made sure to archive all of that, separately (and as efficiently as possible), document it.  So, something I want to cover... there are so many topics... I should back up here, and I should say that there are a lot of topics available to anyone who is starting a podcast.  Something that has to be zeroed in on (and that's not supposed to be a pun on the zero episode) is that you have to choose.  You have to narrow.  You have to focus.  I am no good at that.  I am not good at that... I can't do it. Chris:  How many fingers am I holding up? Adam:  Chris is holding up a finger, and I'm supposed to see one.  And I'm hoping that is what he was doing-- and not giving me the finger. Chris: [Laughing] Adam:  So, I would like to cover the ancestry of the Bally Arcade.  Something that came up and about 2001, perhaps 2002, is someone named Tony Miller, who was responsible for working on the Bally Arcade when it was created, mentioned that the Bally Arcade's chipset is actually a direct descendent of "Space Invaders" arcade game's... the CPU for "Gun Fight".  Or something to that affect.  I didn't understand it then, I might be able to understand it better if I find those exact posts (which are definitely archived).  Now, "Gun Fight" used the Intel 8080 CPU, which is why the Astrocade uses the Z80.  Because it's compatible... sort of.  The Z80 can run 8080 but not the other way around.  As you can see, my knowledge of all of this is completely limited.  What I just told you, is pretty much what I know.  There's obviously a story there.  If I could find people to interview, if I can dig into this, there is a GOOD story there.  And I would like to discover it and present it. Chris:  Yeah, 'cause that would mean Taito took some technical influence from Midway.  Because it was Midway that added a CPU, at all, to "Gun Fight," right?  So... that's pretty interesting. Adam:  We'll find out, Chris. Chris:  Yeah.  So, I've already talked about writing new games as the next logical step once one has a lot of information about any game system, or any computer (or anything like that).  So, are we going to encourage activity in the homebrew Astrocade scene?  Because, there is a latent one there.  You should definitely cover the two released games that we've already talked about: WAR and CRAZY CLIMBER.  Those were pretty big deals.  The first new Astrocade game since... what?... 1985-ish?  I mean, on cartridge... Adam:  It depends on how you look at it.  There were actually some people in the community, who were just sending cartridges back and forth to each other, who were sharing code in the 80s.  They're not considered released cartridges.  Something that is available to the public… yes. Chris:  In terms of talking about homebrew programming, you can also talk about people who just play around with this system, or even interview them.  What do you find interesting about the… Adam:  Yeah.  I would like to do interviews with people who actually have a lot of experience with the system and maybe grew up with it, which I did not do.  I didn't learn about it until... the 90s.  About homebrew programming: I believe, and I would love to make you guys believe, that homebrew programming did not start in the 90s.  I would like to let you know that homebrew programming has been around since 1975 (in my eyes) and earlier.  The very, very first PCs, and by that I mean "Personal Computers," not "IBM Personal Computers," (alright?)... these systems were programmed in people's living rooms, in people's kitchens.  If that is not homebrew programming, I don't know what is. Chris:  Right. Adam:  These people were learning for the sake of learning.  They were playing for the sake of the experience of touching the hardware, learning the software-- they weren't doing this for work, they were doing this for pleasure.  This is the same exact reason people are homebrewing games today.  They were doing this back then.  An insight that you get to see very clearly is in the in the "Arcadian" newsletters, and in the "Cursor" newsletters as well, is people want to teach other people.  They are about sharing.  They are about, "Hey I wrote this.  This is great.  You guys should type it in and try it out... and if you find out anything about it, let me know what you think.  If you can add something to it… if you can cut off six bytes and add a sound effect, please do that, because there's no sound."  These people wanted to help each other, and through that it is available in archives, and we can look at this and learn today.  I would like to have that happen, so that people of today, people who have the knowledge, have modern computers that can cross-compile and create new games-- that would be neat... to me. Chris:  Yeah. Adam:  It has been neat, went two have been released already.  But, even if new games don't get created, what about MESS?  Let's make that better. Chris:  Before we go any further, I think you should "share" your email address so that you get feedback. Adam:  My name is Adam, and you can reach me at ballyalley@hotmail.com Chris:  You can private message me on AtariAge.  I'm chris++. Adam:  Now we expect to get loads of email.  We are gonna be clogged.  We're going to have to have the first episode be nothing but reader feedback. Chris:  I'm telling ya, we really got a good thing going, so you better hang on to yourself. Adam:  [Laughing] Chris:  That's a Bowie quote.  Well, before we wrap this up, let's cover the obvious thing.  How did you get so involved in the Bally Arcade/Astrocade? Adam:  When I first began collecting some of these older consoles and home computers... I never stopped playing them, but when they started becoming available for a quarter, I said, "You know, why don't I just buy each one of them."  I had a very large collection for awhile, until I finally gave some of it to Chris... got rid of most of it, and... I am glad I did, because now I play the games I own.  What I don't play, I get to eventually.  In about 1994... '93... I read about this system in one of the books I had that was from the early 80s that covered the Zgrass, actually.  It was the system, I was like, "I want to get a Zgrass, that'd be neat."  I don't have one.  I did find out that it was related to the Bally Arcade.  From there... I wanted one.  I found my first one for a quarter.  I picked it up at a flea market. Chris:  Oh. Adam:  It came with a few games.  In fact, I saw the games first, and I was like, "How much you want for these?"  Each game was a quarter.  I think there was four or five of 'em.  Then I saw the system, but I didn't have that much money with me.  I had like a dollar left or something (I'd already bought some other things).  I was talking to a friend that I'd gone with, and he said, "Why don't you go back there and offer him your buck for it?"  I went back, and I said, "How much do you want for the game (the system)?"  And he goes, "A quarter." Chris:  Wow. Adam:  So, I still had change to go by another: 2600, an Intellivision... no... [laughing]  But, I didn't find anything else that day. Chris:  Those were the days before you people let eBay ruin that part of the hobby. Adam:  So, I did know that there was an "Arcadian" newsletter.  But, I was a member of an Atari 8-bit user group here in town.  It so happened, I was bringing it up... talking with someone there, and they said, "Oh, I've heard of that!"  I'm like, "Oh, you've heard of the Bally?"  They said, "Oh, sure.  You should talk to Mr. Houser" (who was the president of the Atari club).  Then he said, "I think he wrote some games for it."  I said, "Hmm.  That sounds interesting."  So, I approached him.  By 1994, there were very few users left in the Atari 8-bit group.  Who was left, we all knew each other very well (or, as well as we could-- even though some of us only knew each other from meetings).  We started talking.  He told me that he'd been involved with the "Arcadian."  He had published tapes.  He had something called "The Catalog" [THE SOURCEBOOK], which I now know was the way most people order tapes (but, back then I didn't).  He kept track of all this, and he still had all of his things.  He invited me over one Sunday afternoon and he showed me what he owned, which was... pretty-much everything for the Astrocade that was released.  We went through it one Sunday afternoon, and his son (who was in his early 20s) shared his memories of the machine.  I fell in love: I thought, "Wow, this system is great!"  While I was there Mr. Houser, his name was Richard Houser, he said, "Hey, you know what... we should call up Bob."  I said, "Bob, who?"  He said, "He was the person who used to publish the "Arcadian."  I said, "... Really?"  He's like, "Yeah, let's call him."  So, he called up Bob.  They chatted a bit (for a while) and he told him who I was-- I didn't talk to Bob.  But, he was available back then.  I thought that was great, so I wrote Bob a letter.  I said, "Would it be okay if I get some of your information..."  Later on, in the late-90s, he gave me permission to do that.  At the time, I just said, "Hey.  Here I am."  What's really neat, is I started sending him ORPHANED COMPUTERS & GAME SYSTEMS (which was a newsletter I did in the early-90s.  After three issues, Chris, here, joined me on board).  I sent them to him.  When I bought the Bally collection from him, those issues that I'd sent to him brought back to me.  Which, was, like, this huge circle... because it came through several people, in order to come back.  I found that really neat. Chris:  Yeah. Adam:  Eventually, with Chris, we discovered the system together.  We played around with it.  What was it...?  About 2001, I started BallyAlley.com.  It doesn't look great now, and it looked worse then.  Now, here I am... having a podcast.  How about you, Chris? Chris:  I never stopped playing all the way through either.  You know? Adam:  Why should've we? Chris:  Well, yeah.  I kept playing the old games through the period when they started to be called "classic" and "retro."  This happened at some point in the mid-90s. Adam:  During the HUGE crash during in the 80s (that none of us saw). Chris:  Yeah... that none of us knew about, except for the great prices (which I attributed to over-stock). Adam:  I didn't even think about it. Chris:  Well, they weren't all cheaper.  Even into '83/'84, I remember spending thirty-odd dollars on PITFALL II: LOST CAVERNS for the 2600. Adam:  Yeah, right.  I got that for my birthday, because it was $30... and I didn't have $30, I was a kid. Chris:  Right.  'Cause... that was about two-million dollars in today's money. Adam:  Also, for us, I think, we went onto computers, like many people our age at the time.  So, we sort of distanced ourselves.  The prices for computer stock stayed about the same, as they had for Atari cartridges, and things like that. Chris:  That's a good point.  Yeah.  In coming across "classic," after I hadn't really stopped playing my favorites (and discovering new favorites, thanks to the advent of thrift shops and video games at Goodwill, and stuff), I'd read that and say, "Oh, they're classic now.  Oh, all right.  If you say so."  I thought that was really funny.  So, by the late 90s, I thought I was the only person on earth (not literally, but pretty close) who is still playing these "old" videogames.  All I had when we started hanging out again, Adam, was an Atari 2600 and a Commodore 64.  That was all I wanted.  I didn't want to know about anything else, I didn't want to know about this new CD-ROM, with the "multimedia." Adam:  So, let's... this time period would have been...? Chris:  This is 1997.  By this point, I had been writing my own articles and essays for my own amusement (saving them as sequential files on 1541 floppies using the Commodore 64).  I wrote a file writer and reader program.  I thought I was the only one doing nerdy stuff like this, but I had fun doing it.  And I was still playing all the old games, picking 'em up for a buck or less, while making my rounds at the thrift shops and at Goodwills and everything like that.  I was in a subsidiary of Goodwill that was attached to the largest Goodwill store in Albuquerque.  I ran into a buddy of mine, from ten years previous.  He and I have been freshman in high school, and then I went to another high school and lost touch with all of my friends.  This guy's name, if you can believe this goofy name, was Adam Trionfo.  The store had an even goofier name: the U-Fix-It Corral, but then it changed into Clearance Corner.  Is that right? Adam:  Correct.  Yes. Chris:  Adam was working there.  So, I'm going through a box of... something... from the 80s.  He came over, "Are you Chris?"  I said, "Yeah.  Adam?"  He and I, you know, sort of shook hands.  I said, "Well, that's cool, you're working at Goodwill."  "Yup."  Then I left, and I never saw him again... Adam:  [Laughing] Untill today. Chris:  Until today.  That's why it really sounds improvised here.  He gave me a newsletter he had written about... old videogames (and they weren't even all that old yet, at the time).  He started ORPHANED COMPUTERS & GAME SYSTEMS (on paper, kids!) in 1994.  I asked him, "So, you write about video games too?"  He said, "Yeah."  We started hanging out playing games... a lot.  I didn't know anyone else at the time who liked to play Atari 2600 and Commodore 64 games.  He eventually nudged me to the Internet (or, dragged me... kicking and screaming).  When I encouraged him to start up his newsletter again, he said he would if I'd collaborate.  We did that for couple of years.  Sent out a lot of paper issues.  Had a ball writing it.  Going to World of Atari 98 (and then CGE 2003).  Using interviews that we had conducted at those to feed the material for the newsletter.  In 1999, it became a website.  We've actually been pretty good about adding recent articles... Adam:  Recently.  Yeah. Chris:  ... which is good for us.  I don't know what any of this has to do with what you asked me.  In 1982, we took a trip back East to Buffalo to visit family.  My mom's sister's best friend had a son named Robert, who was a couple of years older than me (I was ten, he was probably twelve or thirteen).  He was the kid who first showed me Adventure. Adam:  Never heard of it. Chris:  Summertime of '82 [mumbling/talked-over??] I got my mind blown by it.  This same guy, Robert, took me into his basement to show me his Atari computer (I believe).  He said not to touch it, because he had a program in memory.  He was typing in a program and he had a magazine open.  That's all I remember.  I wish I had focused on the model number or which magazine it was.  It looked like all of this gobbledygook on the screen.  I was absolutely captivated because-- who didn't want to make his own videogames?  I'd been playing Atari VCS games since February of '82.  It became an obsession with me, on par with music (believe it or not).  He said not to touch it because he hadn't saved it yet.  I said, "How do ya save it?"  You know what I mean?  I didn't ask him any smart-ass questions: "Okay, ya gonna take a picture of the screen?" Adam:  [Laughing] Chris:  He said, "I save them on these."  He showed me just a normal blank cassette, like you would listen to music on.  That just entranced me: all of these innocent music cassettes hiding videogames on them.   Adam:  [Laughing] Chris:  I learned how to program in BASIC that summer from a book checked out from the library.  I mean, I just really got interested in talking to this new thing.  This home computer: the microcomputer (as it was called quite often).  The "micro" to separate them from "mainframes," because, you know, a lot of our friends had mainframes in their bedrooms. Adam:  Right. Chris.  Then he brought me over and showed me one more thing before we had to go.  This was the Bally Professional Arcade.  I thought it was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.  We played THE INCREDIBLE WIZARD.  He let me play for a little while.  I said, "This is just like WIZARD OF WOR!"  He said, "Yeah, it is."  I can't remember if he had an explanation, or had read an explanation, of why the name was changed.  That was my only experience with the Astrocade.  I loved the controller.  To this day, it is still one of my favorite controllers.  I love the trigger thing, and I love the combination of a joystick and a paddle in one knob on top of it.  I didn't see another Astrocade until I started hanging out with you again in '97.  It figures that you were able to collect all of that amazing stuff because you worked at Goodwill. Adam:  I didn't use that to my advantage. Chris: [sarcastically] I'm sure you didn't! Adam:  I wasn't allowed to do that. Chris:  Yeah, well, I'm sure you didn't steal it... Adam:  No. Chris:  But I mean, come on!, you probably made note of what came in. Adam:  There was actually a rule that I had to follow.  When anything came in, it had to sit on the shelves for 24 hours before it could be purchased by an employee.  That didn't mean we had to show everyone where it was, but it had to be out.  And, that was true: it was out.  That didn't mean we said...  (because there were people that came in every single day, just like I used to like to go around too).  It would be on the shelf, but that didn't mean it would be right on the front shelf, saying, "Buy me please, Atari game collector."  It was in the store somewhere! Chris:  You put it in the back, near the electric pencil sharpener! Adam:  No, I didn't hide it either.  I didn't want to get in trouble. Chris:  Nah.  I know.  Adam had an original Odyssey with all of the layover-- the "layovers?"  With all the airplane stops.  No, with all the overlays. Adam:  [Laughing] Chris:  Which, is pretty amazing!  You had an Odyssey, with original 1972 Magnavox console, with everything else: an Intellivision, he had an Odyssey 2 (with boxed QUEST FOR THE RINGS)... and... Adam:  I had 43 different systems. Chris:  Holy cow! Adam:  I am so glad that I don't have that anymore! Chris:  That is a lot for an apartment. Adam:  So, now I have a few left. Chris:  Yes, folks, he does have an Astrocade. Adam:  I do. Chris:  He does have all of the original cartridge games for it.  I think you got all of them? Adam:  I had them, but now I have a multicart.  I got rid of most of them.  I feel... I kept some of my favorites.  I kept my prototypes. Chris:  Which is cool.  Obviously, you have WAR and CRAZY CLIMBER. Adam:  Right. Chris:  THE INCREDIBLE WIZARD. Adam:  I think, I have number 2's, because the programmer got number 1's. Chris:  That's pretty cool.   Adam:  Yeah.  But, honestly, I don't care about the numbers on them.  They were hand numbered, because collector seem to like that.  Personally, since I did the numbering, I found it annoying. Chris:  Well, there were fifty sold? Adam:  There were fifty each.  Yeah.  There was a run of 20 for WAR, because we didn't have any cartridge shells.  We got more, and we did the second run.  The run of CRAZY CLIMBER was always 50.  It was released all at once. Chris:  You have number two, and [sarcastically], that's a collectors item.. Adam:  Right! Chris: ...if anyone knew what it was. Adam:  I should have got number 0!  Think of this, this episode is a collector's item already! Chris:  You taught me a great deal about the Astrocade and how it worked.  You've told me some things that I just find...  so cool.  Like, you had to use the screen for code, because part of your available RAM was the Screen RAM, right?  (And still is.) Adam:  Under BASIC, that's correct. Chris:  That's how I became even more interested in the Bally Arcade/Astrocade. Adam:  We are about finished wrapping things up here.  Just for the last few things to say.  We are going to have an episode every two weeks (or so).  So, that would be bimonthly.  I hope you guys... if you have any ideas that you want to come up with, will send in some feedback.  If we get no feedback by the first one, that's okay... because we expect... a couple of people... to listen to this.   Chris:  Thanks for listening, and thanks for inviting me along, Adam. Adam:  Good to have ya! [End of episode]

In this episode, Bill, Scott and special guest Brian Rosen, do an updated review of Marvel Heroes 2015, the online ARPG that has won several accolades since its launch in June of 2013. Join three annoyingly honest freaks as they admit their (now fulfilled) fantasies about being a female Marvel super hero and beating up super villains. Also featured: a live arcade game segment with Scott Gardner that gives us indisputable proof of Gorf. Plus! The First Avenger: Captain America makes an appearance Disclaimer: Any rumors that blackmail was used to encourage Captain America's appearance are mostly baseless and unfounded until further notice. TV, movie and other anecdotal tangents abound True Believers, and The Old Men even talk about Marvel Heroes 2015 occasionally, so join us for another No Consoles. Excelsior!Feedback for this show can be sent to: noconsolesforoldmen@yahoo.com

In this episode, Bill, Scott and special guest Brian Rosen, do an updated review of Marvel Heroes 2015, the online ARPG that has won several accolades since its launch in June of 2013. Join three annoyingly honest freaks as they admit their (now fulfilled) fantasies about being a female Marvel super hero and beating up super villains. Also featured: a live arcade game segment with Scott Gardner that gives us indisputable proof of Gorf. Plus! The First Avenger: Captain America makes an appearance Disclaimer: Any rumors that blackmail was used to encourage Captain America's appearance are mostly baseless and unfounded until further notice. TV, movie and other anecdotal tangents abound True Believers, and The Old Men even talk about Marvel Heroes 2015 occasionally, so join us for another No Consoles. Excelsior!Feedback for this show can be sent to: noconsolesforoldmen@yahoo.com

Kevin and Kornflake are finally back in Chickentown, gulping down iced coffee and looking back at last month's awesome funny music convention, FumpFest. Topics include: Kevin's weird pre-FumpFest activities (involving gangsters, Gorf, and a triple dog dare), Kornflake's breakfast with Doctor Demento (do NOT try the fish heads at the buffet), the Logan Awards for Excellence in Comedy Music ('twas a clean sweep for the Bay City Rollers, at least in our dreams), more Dementia Smackdown Wrestling and last-minute Dementia Water Aerobics, Italian food prepared by a Kryptonian monkey, and a big glass of Smogberry Stout. You'll also hear the first ever "Bad Flopport of Destiny" triple-podcast, our exclusive interview with ShoEboX of the comedy synth punk band Worm Quartet (also featuring Doornail, the great Luke Ski, and Chris of Power Salad), and Kornflake's FumpFest-themed Top 4 1/2 List. Also: The recommended dress for this week's National Whatever Day is very, very casual.

This weeks brings us a new guest and a new sponsor! Paddy Foran is an old friend of Chris and Ed’s who makes his first appearance on the show, talking about the Go programming language, software architecture, open source projects, and his new book “Your API is Bad.” We also welcome new sponsor Roave! Check out our sponsors, Roave, Engine Yard and WonderNetwork Follow us on Twitter here. Rate us on iTunes here Sign up for our mailing list here Listen Download now (MP3, 30.5MB, 1:05:53) Links and Notes Paddy Foran Go Drama Fever Your API is Bad 2cloud Paddy’s talk at this year’s php[tek] Paddy’s blog post about intro to Open Source Gorf

A review of Gorf! Show notes at: http://monsterfeet.com/noquarter/notes/67

This week I spotlight CBS Toys/Video Games/Electronics and their first two games for the Atari 2600, Gorf and Wizard of Wor. Plus 2 audio submissions! Keep those coming! Next week's episode is all about Adventure by Atari. Everyone should have some kind of story for that one! Please send them to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you so much for listening! Follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/2600GameByGame   Like on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/2600GameByGamePodcast   Read the blog http://2600gamebygamepodcast.blogspot.com/  

In this episode I look at Games by Apollo and two of their games, Skeet Shoot and Spacechase. These games are, well, not the greatest. Bear with me, the next few weeks will be dealing with better games. Next week is CBS Electronics' Gorf and Wizard of Wor, and in 2 weeks, it's Adventure! Send your stories and memories to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. Thank you so much for listening! Follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/2600GameByGame   Like on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/2600GameByGamePodcast   Read the blog http://2600gamebygamepodcast.blogspot.com/

This week I get into Coleco games for the first time with Donkey Kong and Zaxxon. Finally the show has reached double digits! Chewie can listen now! Next week I go back to Activision with Checkers and Fishing Derby. Yep, you read that right. Your portable mp3 player will melt when you play the next episode! Upcoming games include Indy 500, Street Racer, Skeet Shoot, Space Chase, Wizard Of Wor, Gorf, Star Voyager, Atlantis, Star Strike, and Adventures of Tron. You can send me your stories and memories of these games to 2600gamebygame@comcast.net. I love hearing them and I will read them on the show, and tens of other people will hear them! Thanks for listening!   Follow on Twitter https://twitter.com/2600GameByGame   Like on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/2600GameByGamePodcast   Read the blog http://2600gamebygamepodcast.blogspot.com/

Featuring: Michael "Boston" Hannon, John "Knobs" Knoblach, and Brian “TheHanna” Hanna Running Time: 1:35:02 Music: Soul Calibur V During this sleepy week, we chat about Alpha Protocol, Guacamelee, Injustice, the Vita, Soul Calibur 4, Borderlands 2, Bioshock Inifnite, SMT: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, and Papers, Please. Nintendo Direct, April 2013