________________________________________________ / \ | _________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | DOS & Don'ts | | | | | | | | A Modern Newsletter | | | | for Vintage-minded Folks | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | C:\>Issue #15 February 2025_ | | | |_________________________________________| | | | \_________________________________________________/ \___________________________________/ ___________________________________________ _-' .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. --- `-_ _-'.-.-. .---.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--. .-.-.`-_ _-'.-.-.-. .---.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-`__`. .-.-.-.`-_ :---------------------------------------------------------------: `---._.---------------------------------------------------._.---' ------------------ In this Issue... ------------------ Features ---------- Keep Your Eye on GPI: Pacific Novelty and Game Plan Inc, BlueMSX GEO: When GM went Japanese, Jon Mullin Rebel Bytes 2: Pikmin, BlueMSX Columns --------- The Latent Image, Jon Mullin Bits & Bytes -------------- Raves & Rants, Grizzly Adam Unclassified Ads --------------------KEEP YOUR EYE ON--------------------- ! ______________ _________________ ________ ! ! / \| \ | | ! ! / | _____ \ | | ! ! / _______ | | | \|_ _| ! ! / / |____| | | | | | ! ! | | | | | | | | ! ! | | | |_____| | | | ! ! | | _________| / | | B ! | | | | _________/ | | Y ! | | |____ | | | | ! | | | | | | | B ! \ \ | | | _| |_ L ! \ \____/ _| |_ | | U ! \ | | | | E ! \ | | | | M ! \____________|___________| |________| S ! X ------------Pacific Novelty and Game Plan Inc------------ When you think of arcade manufacturers from the late 1970s and 1980s, which come to mind? Most would think fondly of Atari, Namco, Midway, and Williams, but what about Pacific Novelty or Game Plan Inc? They're not as well remembered, even compared to companies like Ramtek or Exidy which I've covered previously. However, they do hold an important place in arcade history. While much of the histories of Game Plan Inc (GPI) and Pacific Novelty are shrouded in mystery, I've done my best to compile things based on many different accounts. Thus, the information presented here borders on speculation at times and may not be 100% accurate. Game Plan Inc first opened its doors in 1977 and began by making Pinball Machines. However, unlike many other tables, these were designed with a home setting in mind. Games that were part of this set were Foxy Lady, Vegas, and Star Trip among others. This would be followed by machines such as Coney Island, Sharp Shooter, and Mike Bossy. The latter of which is said to be a mix of Ice Hockey and Pinball. Pinball would continue to be their mainstay until 1979 when Space Invaders brought about a boom in the arcade industry. Every coin-op company with the means would make an effort to cash in on this current success in various ways. Since developing a game in house would be expensive, GPI would do the next logical thing, buy a game from another company and release it themselves. Knowing that potential future hits were being created in Japan, GPI sent executives to Japan in hopes of finding games that could be licensed. A small company, Taiyo Systems, would eventually be found with not one, but two games near complete and ready to ship. These games were space shooters, Tora Tora and Intruder (produced with help from Taito). Then by creating a generic reusable cabinet design, GPI had games ready to ship. Taiyo wasn't the only company GPI visited, however, another was Nakamura Amusement Machine Manufacturing Company or Namco. Namco had previously worked with Atari Inc and Midway Manufacturing to release games in the United States, so they were willing to work with GPI. As for what happened next, there are conflicting accounts. One account mentioned that Namco had two games nearly ready to ship for 1980, King and Balloon and Puck-Man. Midway Manufacturing was also interested in bringing over one or both of these games. Wanting to keep a good relationship with both companies, a coin flip was held to determine what company would get to license what game. Midway would wind up with Puck-Man, while GPI got King and Balloon. Another account suggests that the representative from GPI wanted King and Balloon as it was technologically better than Galaxian, which Midway had licensed previously. As for the game itself, it borrowed a lot from Galaxian but you didn't lose a life if you were hit. Rather you only lost a life if the king (who was in the area of the screen just below where your ship was) was captured by the attacking balloons and taken off- screen. Many of these elements would be used later in Galaga with modifications, but King and Balloon also featured synthesized speech that was entirely digital. Since the original digitized audio was in Japanese, GPI would record new audio for the game which Namco would program in. (Notably, GPI's audio would be reused by Namco in all English re-releases of the game). However, King and Balloon was seemingly not the only game included in the deal with Namco. Another game which Namco had developed around 1979 was Tank Battalion. While not confirmed, the game was being location tested to moderate success compared to Puck-Man. Namco, worried that the game would underperform, likely threw the game in for the deal with GPI in hopes of offloading stock. Whatever is the case, King and Balloon would be released by GPI in 1980 alongside Tank Battalion. However, compared to other shooter games from the time, King and Balloon only was a moderate success. Meanwhile Puck-Man, which Midway released as Pac-Man, was a mega hit for Midway. GPI, getting burned by the deal with Namco, would never license a game from them again. The games GPI had licensed from Taiyo on the cheap, Tora Tora and Intruder did very well. This in turn formed a good relationship between GPI and Taiyo moving forward, but it's here where our story takes a turn. Formed in the late 1970s, Pacific Novelty (no apparent relation to the postcard company of the same name) was made up of former Chicago Coin employees after Chicago Coin was purchased by Gary and Sam Stern to become Stern Electronics. Having the skills needed to continue making games the way they wanted to, they set out to do just that. During this time, the movie Jaws was still immensely popular. Pacific wanting to cash in on that success would create Deep Death which combined the theming of Jaws with the maze chase genre popularized by Pac-Man. However, Universal who owned the rights to the film Jaws, felt that the game infringed on their copyright for the film. Ironically, Universal would sue Nintendo a year later for the same reason, feeling Donkey Kong infringed on their alleged copyright of King Kong. Not having the resources to fight a lawsuit, a deal was reached where only 500 machines would be produced before Pacific would have to pay royalties to Universal for every machine. In response, Pacific built the machines right up to that limit. GPI was still looking for new games, stumbling upon Deep Death since both companies were based out of the Chicago area. A deal was struck where games developed by Pacific could also be released by GPI in hopes of helping both companies. For GPI's version of Deep Death, they would retitle it Shark Attack. It's unknown if GPI also fell under the same legal agreement as Pacific with Universal needing royalties, but since Shark Attack machines are about as common as their Pacific counterparts. I would think it reasonable to assume GPI followed Pacific's approach by not producing the machines past 500 units. It's unknown if any other machines were produced under this partnership between Pacific and GPI, as information is scarce. Pacific would then release games such as Mr. F. Lea which was an obstacle avoidance game similar to Frogger or Donkey Kong. NATO Defense, which was similar to Crush Roller where you had to cover the playfield to win, and finally Thief. Thief was unique as it was similar to Pac-Man in gameplay with the dots replaced with cash while you took the role of a thief under- going a massive crime spree while the cops hunted you down. While this isn't too special on first inspection, this game, Mr.F.Lea, and Deep Death not only made use of advanced graphics technology for the time, but Thief and Deep Death had in-game speech. This was achieved by the way of a continuous loop 8-Track tape player, which contained sound effects and commentary on each track which could be turned on or off depending on what was happening in game. This meant that the tape itself contained the same sounds played over and over on every track, muted when not in use. Out of all of these games, Thief and Deep Death/Shark Attack were by far their largest successes. As for GPI, they would continue to bring over games from Taiyo such as Megattack, Kaos, and Enigma II (There was no Enigma I). These were all space shooters of various caliber, with Enigma II selling the best thanks to its more interesting gameplay for the time. Including the ability to thrust yourself forwards to move your ship much farther in the playfield than most shooters allowed. GPI would also continue to make Pinball during this time such as Attila the Hun, Andromeda, and Captain Hook. The latter of which appears to be GPI's final released game of any sort. The company would fold later that year, but the exact reason for this isn't known. Some say it was falling sales, while another account suggests it was tax evasion with their executives disappearing to parts unknown. As for Pacific, they continued operation until 1988 with Pop-A-Ball, which was a redemption game being their last official release with the company disincorporating around the early 1990s. Out of all these companies, only Taiyo appears to still be around in the present day. After GPI's deal with them, they would use the capital raised to release Monster Zero, their first independently released game, and their largest hit to this point. This would continue with games like Chinese Hero, a beat em up style game, and Shanghai Kid, the first fighting game to use a combo system. According to some accounts, Taiyo also performed contract work for Nintendo to develop Donkey Kong, but I was not able to confirm this as Ikegami Tsushinki would ultimately develop the final product for Nintendo. So it's unknown what hand, if any, Taiyo had in creating Donkey Kong. After this point, Taiyo changed their name to Culture Brain and would develop games for Nintendo's new Family Computer or Famicom. These include Kung-Fu Heroes, a port of Chinese Hero, Shanghai Kid was also ported over as Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll, along with original games like The Magic of Scheherazade, a Zelda-esque RPG. These games all sold very well and allowed Culture Brain to last well into the new millennium releasing games for the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Playstation, and DS Family of handhelds. Their last official release was in 2017, with their current status unknown. While these companies may have not been the most well known, they do still remain well remembered by those who enjoyed their games, whether it was from GPI, Pacific, or Taiyo. Happy Gaming! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- About BlueMSX: BlueMSX, Blue for short, enjoys retro technologies, history, and learning for the sake of learning. She has been interested in retro electronics and media for nearly as long as she can remember. This fascination means that she has a lot of great stories to recount. Blue's philosophy can be summed up by the quote, History is like a puzzle- the more pieces you have the more sense it makes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- __ (___()'`;----------------------------------------. /, /` GEO: WHEN GM WENT JAPANESE | \\"--\\| | | , , . , , | | , ---,-----:-----,--- , | | , , : , , | | ,-----,-------:-------,-----, | | , , : , , | | ,----,-----:-----,----, | | , , . , , o-°°|\_____/) | \_/|_) ) | BY JON MULLIN | \ __ / '-----------------------------------------' (_/ (_/ In my youth, my maternal grandparents both had GEO metros. These little cars were sold at Chevrolet dealerships and were cheap, economical, and fairly reliable little buggers. They originally came in a 3 or 5 door hatchback and had a puny 3 cylinder engine. Why did my grandparents buy these little cars, well they were affordable and great on gas. They weren't fancy but they were nice to drive. That was GEO's goal: offer cars that were from other markets as affordable options. Geo had 5 models across its life: Spectrum, Storm, Prizm, Tracker, and Metro. The mark ran from 1989 until 1998 when it was dissolved back into Chevrolet. The first model we will go over is the shortest lived model, the Geo Spectrum. The Spectrum itself was simply a rebadged Isuzu Gemini. Originally it was sold as a Chevrolet model starting in 1995. The Geo badged Spectrum was sold only in 1989, and only changed the Chevy badge on the back for a Geo one. The front still had the Chevrolet bowtie emblem. This model was available as a 3 door hatch, or a 4 door sedan and had one trim level. The Chevrolet spectrum had option packages to spice it up, but the GEO model seemed to miss this luxury. The Spectrum faded out of existence pretty quickly, as it was an older model. Its design was older than the other models and felt dated, and it also means that Isuzu's next GEO would be able to take its place as a newer and more fancy model. The Geo Storm was that replacement. It was a rebadged Isuzu Impulse available as a 2 door liftback or a unique 3 door wagon back. The new model came with a choice of more powerful engines but lacked the turbo, suspension, and all wheel drive of the Impulse. The interior was a major upgrade compared to the Spectrum. It had nicer material, and was more ergonomic than its predecessor. The Storm filled the need for a small economical sports car. Geo had good success with the storm, but with Isuzu getting out of the passenger car market in 1993, the storm also got the axe. There were rumors it was because it sold better than Chevrolets 2 door Cavalier and that's why it was canceled, but it doesn't add up to the numbers I've seen. The Storm was a good little car that really did captivate the younger audience. It was the fun GEO for the 4 model years it was around. Isuzu wasn't the only brand in the GEO lineup. Toyota was involved as well. Toyota and GM made a partnership to create the NUMMI, or New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.. My grandfather, who worked for GM at the time, joked that they called it "Toylet" because of the collaboration between Toyota and Chevrolet. If you don't get it, say it out loud and you will in a heartbeat. The Prizm was very similar to the Toyota Sprinter (a restyled Corolla) sold in Japan. It was also offered over two generations under the GEO mark. The first offered a sedan and liftback while the second was only a sedan. This offered GEO a more practical compact sedan for those who needed more space. Being Toyota derived, they were reliable cars. They offered higher and lower output engines on both generations. The Prizm didn't just stop when GEO shut down. Instead the third Generation became a Chevrolet where it became a clone of the Toyota Corolla. This model suffered in sales compared to its GEO predecessors, and the Prizm was no more. Suzuki offered two models for the GEO brand. The first model of note was the Compact Tracker SUV. Designed by CAMI (Canadian Automotive Manufacturing Inc.) which was a joint venture between Suzuki and Chevrolet. The Track was a rebadge of the Suzuki Sidekick. It was a true SUV, based on a truck platform. It was GEOs offroad model to compete with the likes of larger, less affordable Jeeps and 4Runners at the time. It was available as a 2 door or starting in 1996 a 4 door. Earlier 2 doors had a choice of hard or even a soft top to help it compete with the more expensive Jeeps Wrangler. The Tracker had one generation under the GEO brand from 1989 until 1997. The Tracker would be badged as a Chevrolet from 1998 onward. It really was a popular model that spawned a 2nd generation under the Chevrolet brand. The last model we will review is the GEO Metro. It is a rebadged Suzuki Cultus. It too was produced by CAMI in Canada. Offered as 3 door hatchbacks, 5 door hatchbacks, and 2 door convertibles in its first generation, the Metros claim to fame was its insanely good gas mileage. It was rated over 50 miles per gallon in the super fuel efficient trim XFi Trim. Even in other trims it was still a very efficient car getting well over 45 miles per gallon on the highway. This was thanks to its efficient engines. It used a 1 litre 3 cylinder engine of varying power outputs. The Metro was a hit, and GM green lit a design for a second generation model. This time only available in a 3 door hatch or a 4 door sedan, it retained the 3 cylinder but gained a 4 cylinder in the US. GM wanted a car that looked more like a smaller Cavalier, so the design was influenced by its design. This car only got to keep the GEO name for 2 model years when it was rebadged to being a GM. The second generation Metro also was unique in that it was co developed by GM and Suzuki for the American Market. It wasn't sold outside of North America. It was the only GEO to not be a straight rebadge of a model sold outside of the US. So there you have it: Geo. Much like Scion and Toyota, they aimed their market at first time car buyers and a youthful audience. In a sense it succeeded. They offered a wide range of cars obtainable for first time, college students, and new family buyers. Their costs were low, and all were fuel efficient. They took a car sold outside of the US (hence the Geo name) and made it feel like an American car. Sadly, GEO rebranded to Chevrolet, and most of the models saw a decline after this transition. The Prizm, Tracker, and Metro never hit the same sales as they did under the geo brand. GEO may be gone for now, but who knows if they will come back. As car prices are rising it could be an easy way for GEO to come back and swoop up new car buyers. Only time will tell. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Jon Mullin: Jon has been photographing professionally since 2008, but has been surrounded all his life by the small and quirky point and shoot Kodaks that his father collected. Now he photographs pets and people in unique and interesting ways. Jon's Website: jonmullin.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- @ / / | | ( ) _.--------._ _.-' '-._ REBEL BYTES 2: / .-(\/\/)--._ \ PIKMAN | / /| | | | __ __ / | | BY \ \ (___) \.' / BLUEMSX -._ '-._o____.-' _.- {'-.______.-'} / `o \ / | O | \ {===}( -______- ){===} UUU | || | UUU [_____][_____] Pikmin is a series that is more well known now thanks in no small part to Pikmin 4. However, it had largely gone under the radar for many years with the risk of falling into obscurity in Nintendo's eyes. Not unlike a certain interstellar vulpine game. When Nintendo debuted Project Dolphin, later known as the Nintendo Gamecube, several demonstrationary games were created to show off the system's power. One such demo was called Super Mario 128, which featured 128 individual Marios running around a simple level performing simple tasks. While not intended to become a full game, Super Mario Galaxy would seemingly be what became of the project. The idea of a game where the player could control many individual characters at once still appealed to Shigeru Miyamoto. Through various design iterations, Pikmin would ultimately be created as a launch title for the Gamecube. In the game, you take control of Captain Olimar whose ship collided with an asteroid while traveling in deep space. Thus sending his ship crashing into an unexplored planet below, which happens to look a lot like Earth. The crash scattered the various parts of Olimar's ship, The SS Dolphin across the planet, but not only that, the planet's atmosphere contains a high amount of Oxygen, which is poisonous to him. With his suit's life support system only lasting 30 days, he has until then to recover all 30 parts of the ship to return home. This may not be so easy however, compared to most people Olimar is quite small, about the size of a Quarter, this would make him easy prey for the hostile beasts of the planet. However, in a stroke of luck, Olimar stumbles upon a local species of plant which he dubs an Onion, after a plant on his home of Hocotate. The Onion then ejects a single seed, which when plucked reveals a small plant like humanoid creature, (about the size of a Dime), which he dubs Pikmin after his favorite brand of Pik Pik Carrots. By guiding, throwing, and using local resources and defeating enemies to boost the number of Pikmin (up to 100 can follow you at once). Olimar can recover the parts of his ship by having the Pikmin carry them back to the ship. During the course of the game Olimar will discover that the first Pikmin he found weren't the only ones. While his Red Pikmin were immune to fire, he discovered Yellow Pikmin who could be thrown much higher than the others, and Blue Pikmin who could go underwater thanks to their gills. The game itself features a wide variety of environments with 5 main levels to explore, each teeming with unique enemies, puzzles, and obstacles. From the dark caves of the Forest Navel, to the lush rolling hills of The Forest of Hope, there's a lot on offer. During each of the game's 30 days, you must use the different types of Pikmin to clear obstacles, defeat enemies and bosses, all before the in-game day runs out. Each day lasts about 12 minutes, making resource management critical. Since only 100 Pikmin can be on the level at once, you can return Pikmin back to their Onions to swap around types of Pikmin in your squad as needed. At the end of each day, Olimar calls the Pikmin back to their Onions with the Onions lifting off into the sky just behind Olimar, likely to escape the enemies below. No game is without its problems though, and being the first game in the series, Pikmin is no exception. The physics of the game can be iffy at times, and Pikmin may be slow to respond to commands. There are three major endings in the game depending on what ship parts you collect, as not all parts are required to beat the game. The first is when you acquire all 30 ship parts within the needed amount of time. With Olimar returning home, and the Pikmin having learned from their time with Olimar can now defend themselves from the enemies who once preyed on them with ease. As Olimar leaves, Onions of many different colors are seen flying into the atmosphere just behind him, hinting towards new types of Pikmin to be discovered. This is the best and canon ending. As for the other two, the good ending the Dolphin while unfinished was able to return Olimar home, not much different then the best ending. The bad ending however, Olimar's ship being too unfinished cannot break the atmosphere, much less return him home. The ship crashes into the planet once again, Olimar seemingly passing in the process. The Pikmin using their Onion, do bring him back to life as what later games would dub a Leafling. This ending isn't canon. The game was met with positive views during its release, thanks in no small part to its innovative gameplay. Being a launch game for the Gamecube, it sold very well and would pave the way for a sequel. As for how you can play Pikmin 1 today, the original hardware is always an option, but the game has also been ported to the Wii and the Switch in the modern era. While it's not a very long game, I do find myself going back to it from time to time, and if you enjoy the series or real time strategy, I would recommend giving the game a try. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- About BlueMSX: BlueMSX, Blue for short, enjoys retro technologies, history, and learning for the sake of learning. She has been interested in retro electronics and media for nearly as long as she can remember. This fascination means that she has a lot of great stories to recount. Blue's philosophy can be summed up by the quote, History is like a puzzle- the more pieces you have the more sense it makes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | The Latent Image - with Jon Mullin | | | | This Month: | | It's Always Sunny 16 in Philadelphia | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Modern photography is quite interesting. You can point most any modern camera and it just snaps a photo. This is because cameras can meter a scene. Metering- in layman's terms- just means how much light is hitting the camera. By knowing how much light is coming into a camera it can adjust to create a perfect image. Modern cameras have the ability to set these settings based on the light meters in the camera. Before metering, people often had to figure out other ways to properly expose an image without this vital tool. This leads to two rules followed by many early, amateur, and beginner photographers. We call these rules Sunny 16 and Loony 11. To understand how these rules work, we have to do a little homework. There are three main settings a camera needs to take a photo: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Shutter speed refers to how long a camera is letting light in, measured by fractions of a second. ISO, formerly ASA, refers to the sensitivity of the medium being shot on like film or a sensor. Aperture refers to a diaphragm inside the lens that lets in more or less light, and is measured as a function equation that thankfully you don't need to solve. The text somewhere on the lens will tell you the widest aperture you can shoot at starting with the letter "F" and a number. The lower the number, the more light it lets in. An F2.8 lens lets in twice as much light compared to an F5.6 lens for instance. The last thing to remember is doubling or halving any of these settings is called a stop. So if your ISO is 200, one stop more would be 400, while one stop less would be 100. That's it, now for the meat and potatoes. My Minolta XD 11 is fantastic and works great. Though, The meter is dead. So how do I shoot without knowing how much light the camera needs on a sunny day? The answer is the "Sunny 16" rule. This little rule basically tells us to set our aperture to F16, and whatever our ISO is set to we want to take the reciprocal of our ISO for our shutter speed. For those who need a refresher, the reciprocal is basically dividing one into our ISO. Turn that into a fraction and we get 1 over our ISO. So for ISO 200, we would take the reciprocal of 200 to get a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second. So if we are using ISO 400 film, then we want our shutter speed to be 1/400th of a second and our aperture to be F16. Follow this rule and you should have a perfectly exposed photo every time in broad daylight! Sunny 16 is always a safe bet for me when I'm shooting on a bright and sunny day, but what if it's dark out? I hate to say it but the best answer is guess the best you can. If it's a little cloudy, try one stop less on your aperture, or F11. If it's overcast, go to F8 or F5.6 depending on how cloudy it is. If it's shade or sunset, then shoot at F4. These F numbers I mentioned are the stops of an aperture. This is what makes aperture stops tricky to remember, each stop isn't a doubling or halving of the numbers like your shutter speed or ISO. That's okay! If you're shooting an older film camera the aperture is labeled by these stops! If you are shooting a modern film or digital camera, I'll give you the quick cheat sheet because I'm a nice guy. These are the stops for apertures: F1.4, F2, F2.8, F4, F5.6, F8, F11, F16, and F22. Now we know how to shoot outside if we don't have a meter in our camera, but I mentioned something called Loony 11. Well, this is used to properly expose photos of the moon! If you want to photograph the moon, it's identical to Sunny 16 but your aperture is going to be F11 instead. Don't believe me? Give it a shot and see for yourself! It literally works every time, and you get a perfectly exposed moon. When I say moon, I'm referring to the satellite in the sky. This rule does not work if you are photographing someone's derriere. There you have it, we are spoiled with our automatic metering systems, and light meters. In older days not everyone could afford a light meter though, and these simple rules allowed us to capture memories. It also works for people who have a defective meter in their camera and need to expose a proper image. I know this article is technical, but if you get this memorized you will be surprised how little you really need to rely on that old light meter to get the perfect photo in every moment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Jon Mullin: Jon has been photographing professionally since 2008, but has been surrounded all his life by the small and quirky point and shoot Kodaks that his father collected. Now he photographs pets and people in unique and interesting ways. Jon's Website: jonmullin.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- | Grizzly Adam's | |---------------------------------------------------------------------| | .--. . . ..---..-. .-. .--. .. ..---..-. | | | ) / \ |\ | | ( ) ( ) | ) / \\ / | ( ) | | |--' /___\ | \ | | `-. .--' |--' /___\\ / |--- `-. | | | \ / \ | \| | ( ) ( `.) | \ / \\ / | ( ) | | ' `' `' ' ' `-' `---'` ' `' `' '---'`-' | --------------------------------------------------------------------- Raves: Peter Faulk as Lt. Columbo: Sports his iconic trench coat and with a chewed-up cigar in mouth, Falk masterfully balances Columbo's seemingly absent-minded demeanor with his cunning intellect. His performance turned Columbo into a cultural icon, with his famous "Just one more thing" line becoming one of television's most recognizable catchphrases. Lender's Bagel Bites: The perfect blend of crispy, chewy, and cheesy, and takes less than a minute in the microwave. As the jingle goes, "Pizza in the morning, pizza in the evening, pizza at suppertime! When pizza's on a bagel, you can eat pizza anytime!" NASA's human Computers: The real unsung heroes of the moonshot, the women and minorities employed by NASA as computers would perform complex mathematical calculations. These skilled mathematicians were responsible for solving equations for orbital trajectories, re-entry paths, and spacecraft designs. The recent film "Hidden Figures" brought their story to a much wider audience. Lock 'n Chase for the Gameboy: 1990 brought Data East's follow up to their 1981 maze-chase. The game starts off much like the old arcade game, but quickly becomes something much more. The graphics, music, levels are all bigger and better. Many new gameplay elements will keep you coming back for more. Rants: Henry Ford: While best known for introducing the assembly line and making autos affordable, most miss that Ford was a Hitler-loving antisemite. Ford's newsletter, "The Dearborn Independent," ran from 1920-27 and often included baseless and harmful conspiracy theories that demonized Jews. How the Ford Motor Company hasn't long since rebranded itself says a lot about the type of people still running the company. Commodore Outdated BASIC: Commodore CEO Jack Tramiel decided that the older version of Microsoft BASIC licensed for their 1977 PET computer would be good enough for their 1982 Commodore 64. Tramiel was taking advantage of ambiguous wording in their contract, screwing both Microsoft and their own user base in one fell swoop. The results: the Commodore 64 is cheap, but not at all user-friendly! Hulk Hogan: Even in defeat, this egomaniac simply cannot resist the spot- light. Following his loss to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI, Hogan inserted himself into Warrior's post-victory celebration. This shifted the focus from the new champion to the old champion "passing the torch." The spotlight remained on Hogan as he slowly made his way out of the arena and the Warrior never truly got his moment. Creative Engineering's Aaron Fechter: The man behind Showbiz Pizza and the Rock-afire Explosion rubs a lot of us in the fan community the wrong way. His retelling of his business practices seem shady and many of his stories feel like outright lies. We, of course, have no proof of these lies but I still refuse to believe that Showbiz offered absolutely no compensation in exchange for giving up the rights to the Rock-afire Explosion. He seems like a bitter old man yelling at clouds. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Grizzly Adam: Grizz is one of those eccentrics that you read about. The type that people say marches to the beat of their own drum. His hobbies include writing, programming, computers, electronics, telephone systems, pyromania, and lawn care. Grizz's Website: grizz.atwebpages.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ================== | UNCLASSIFIED ADS | ================== ######################################################### # Enter the WONDERFUL WORLD of AMAZING LIVE SEA-MONKEYS # ######################################################### Own a BOWLFULL of HAPPINESS--Instant PETS! You'll gasp with AMAZEMENT when you see adorable baby Sea-Monkeys INSTANTLY being born ALIVE before your eyes! Guaranteed to live and to grow, this MIRACLE OF SCIENCE has been granted Patent #3,673,986 by the United States Government for our astounding discovery of the formula for making INSTANT LIFE. MILLIONS THRILLED BEYOND WORDS! 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FREE *A 1 YEAR SUPPLY of Sea Monkey FOOD *LIVING PLASMA *A fully-illustrated Manual of Sea Monkey Care, Raising, Training and Breeding *LIFE and GROWTH GUARANTEE CERTIFICATE ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | GUARANTEED TO LIVE AND GROW | | Nature House, Dept. SCG-1 | | 380 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017 | | | | I CAN HARDLY WAIT! Please send my Sea-Monkey kit(s) and my FREE | | supplies and GUARANTEE. I must be 100% satisfied or you will refund | | my money. I enclose $1.00 plus 30c for postage/handling for each kit. | | | | Send ___ kit(s) []cash []check []money order | | Total amount enclosed $............. (No C.O.D.'s please) | | Address....................................... Apt. no....... | | City....................... State............ Zip............ | | RUSH ORDERS (50c extra) | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** ========== ============= | SERVICES | | PERSONALS | ========== ============= _________________________________ | _____________________________ | Yes, I like piña coladas | | HARRY HOGGE | | And gettin' caught in the rain | | NASCAR DRIVING SCHOOL | | I'm not much into health food | | | | I am into champagne | | "You Can build a driver | | I've got to meet you by | | like you build a car" | | tomorrow noon | | | | And cut through all this red tape | |108 Morrison Plantation Pkwy,| | At a bar called O'Malley's | | Mooresville, NC | | Where we'll plan our escape | |_____________________________| | *********************************** |_________________________________| EMPEROR PALPATINE seeking NIGHTMARE ENTERPRISES BOUNTY HUNTERS Fine purveyors of monsters to locate the Han Solo of any occassion. Call Today! and the Millenium Falcon. _________________________________ Substancial Reward, Call to apply! | POUND FOR POUND BEST VALUE! | $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ |---------------------------------| $$ I am Duece Bigelow and women $$ | NEW from Cardiff | $$ pay me to give them pleasure. $$ | THE GIANT | $$ $$ | The World's Heaviest Luggable | $$ $10, price negotiable $$ | at a Whoping 102 LBs! | $$ $$ | __________________________ | $$ Ask for the Sushi Special!! $$ | / [=====] /| | $$ 555-3469 $$ | /_________________________/ | | $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ | | _________ __ | | | | Dear Princess, | | | | [|] |__| | | | | I was very upset when I got to | | | CARDIFF | [|] |__| | | | | your castle and you were not there, | | | GIANT | [|] |__| | | | | Please send me correct address! | | |_________| [|]o|__| | | | | -Mario | !_______________________!__!/\ | | ____________________________ )| ============= | | |/ | | MEMORIALS | | | [][][][][][][][][][][][][] | | ============= | |[][][][][][][][][][][][][][]| | --<>-=-[]-=-()-=-<>-=-()-=-[]-=-<>-- | | [][][][____________][][][] | | | Apollo Creed Memorial Service | | |____________________________| | + to be held this Sunday O | | | at Grand Park | | Why pay for one of our | O "Stand by my side + | competitors' dainty | | this one last time." | | 30 lb machines | --<>-=-[]-=-()-=-<>-=-()-=-[]-=-<>-- | when you can own | | THE CARDIFF GIANT? | * L O V E * * L O V E * * L O V E * | for $31,899 | * * |---------------------------------| L Li'l Sebastion left us left a L | That's only $312.74 per LB! | O giant hole in our hearts when O |_________________________________| V he passed away earlier this V E year. E Hello Friends, looking for hot * _,--._.-, * new deals on used parts? * /\_r-,\_ ) * Visit planet Junkion, L .-.) _;='_/ (.; L our new improved Junkion planet O \ \' \/S ) O is sleek and sexy import V L.'-. _.'|-' V with turbo handling! E <_`-'\'_.'/ E We'll have your parts good as new * `'-._( \ * with 90 day warranty. * ___ \\, ___ * Yes friends act now, L \ .'-. \\ .-'_. / L your satusfaction gaurenteed. O '._' '.\\/.-'_.' O Happy Motoring, Cockadoodledoo! V '--``\('--' V E \\ E Set a course for adventure * `\\, * and great deals at Gazpacho's! * \| * What goes better with adventure * * than barrels of sweet, sweet candy! L To honor Li'l Sebastion's mem- L Indivigual candies not for sale. O ory, we are holding a cele- O Ahoy, it's a pile of sardines! V bration of his life this Sat- V I have no idea what these are E urday afternoon at Ramsett E worth. Wash them fishies down with * Park. We invite anyone who * some smooth, delicious, Maple * knew and loved Li'l Sebastion * Syrup! For you beardless wonders, L to attend, celebrate his life L we've got Slippery Pete's Whisker O and join in singing "5000 Can- O Elixir half off! Need a hand? I'll V dles in the Wind". Ben Wyatt V give you one, that is I'll give you E has been asked not to attend. E two for one on our Realistic * * Adventure Hand! Cuz when it comes * L O V E * * L O V E * * L O V E * to deals you gotta hand it to _________________________________ Gazpacho! | New Coke on sale now! | --------------------------------- | So much better than old Coke! | Gazpacho's! For random stuff | We swear it doesn't | you can't find, anywhere else! | taste like Pepsi! | Look for our new Stormalong Harbor |_________________________________| location off Dock 5. =============== -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- | TRADING POST | | Have a lot of money and don't | =============== | know what to do with it? | Does ANYONE have Boardwalk for | Come on down to the KRUSTY KRAB | Mcdonald's Monopoly? | home of the world famous | I have like 15 parkplaces. | KRABBY PATTY! | Willing to pay 20 bucks. | Only the most mouthwatering, | Call me today. 555-420-2393 | appetizing food in the seven | ( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( ) | seas. We start with a fresh | ( ) STEP RIGHT UP! ( ) | patty, add some crisp undersea | ( ) ---------------------------- ( ) | veggies and cheese, topped off | ( ) See if you can out drive ( ) | with secret sauce, and some | ( ) the amazing Golf Ball, uh, ( ) | buns. Come on down and try a | ( ) Whacker Guy! ( ) | KRABBY PATTY today! | ( ) ---------------------------- ( ) | THE KRUSTY KRAB | ( ) Friday nights at the ( ) | Come spend your money here! | ( ) Waterbury Country Club ( ) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( )( ) ----------------------------(\/) (;,,;) (\/)----------------------------- (((_.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._.-=-._))) ))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(( (( > < )) )) ACTING EDITOR: Jon Mullin (( (( > ACTING ASSISTANT EDITOR: BlueMSX < )) )) PUBLISHER: Grizzly Adam (( (( > < )) )) WRITERS (( (( > --------- < )) )) Grizzly Adam (( (( > BlueMSX < )) )) Jon Mullin (( (( > < )) )) (( (( > http://dosanddonts.mywebcommunity.org < )) ))...............................................................(( (( > SHARE ME! 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