[21] Blame Canada

Let me get away from the computer screen for a little while.  I'll do something we haven't done in ages, and read a book.

My favorite author from age 8-13 or so was Gordan Korman, author of many books about kids my own age doing wacky and unusual things. About 20 years ago, I decided to start looking up some of his works on the internet, since I had long since given away or misplaced my books (or so I had thought).

[20] Do not pass GO, Do not collect $200.

As a kid, I always loved to play board games, even though my parents never really wanted to play them.  One of the favorites was, of course, Monopoly.  What kid wouldn't like this game, sculpted around (in some ways) the "American Dream"?

My family still has this edition somewhere, I hope.

The history of Monopoly is a storied one, with many books and documentaries about it.  One of my favorite books is a book about the history of Parker Brothers, which makes you almost long for the olden days, but there are many other sources as well.  The following is loosely adapted from another (perhaps slightly biased) account.

[19] Imitation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery

I apologize for my absence.  Since my last post, I moved into a new house, helped family with an overseas move, and was otherwise procrastinating.  I started writing this post back when I was doing a playthrough for TAG, and almost from the start, I had to wrestle with the question of emulation.  After all, it's a DOS game from 1993.  I don't have a souped-up 386 sitting around, so I had to find other ways to run the program. 

Emulation isn't just about MS-DOS, but it's a starting point for this discussion.

Modern incarnations of Windows choke at the thought of running a DOS program.  So, over time, people have come up with ways to run the new programs, the ones the hardware merchants and operating system folks wish you would just forget about, so that they can sell you new replacements at a new higher profit.

[18] I Think I'm Gonna Be Back in Time...

 

A new post is coming soon.  Promise.

But until then, I'm doing another playthrough for the community over at The Adventurer's Guild, for the Coktel Vision 1993 release of Lost in Time.

Introduction Post

Gameplay Post 1

Gameplay Post 2

Gameplay Post 3

Gameplay Post 4

Gameplay Post 5

Gameplay Post 6

Gameplay Post 7

Final Review & Scoring

[17] Things To Do When You're Board

 Well, I'm a nerd.

(Don't everyone run up here at once to dispute that...)

But as I write this post, it's becoming the nerdiest one I've written so far.  And that's saying something.

Back around 1990, perhaps a little late in the game compared to some, I got my hands on a modem and discovered Dial-up BBSs.  It came late to me, because I lived in the middle of nowhere, and there were no systems a free phone call away yet. Still, I convinced my parents to make the occasional call to a system about 30 miles away, and started to get a lot more up to date with the world.

No BBS user was this attractive, and never had such an attractive girlfriend looking over their shoulder.