In a previous linkdump, I included a trailer for the next season of Doctor Who, which didn’t really do much but show the characters with this energy-cloud-ghost-effect whooshing around and occasional slight weirdness that could be associated with time travel (like a pizza one just finished re-appearing in the empty box). This one at least has a few more shots of Who-like things to look at:
Oddly, still no aliens or weird-looking characters. I’m wondering if they haven’t finished shooting enough of the season to assemble a trailer with the usual “here’s an alien that looks like we put some video game action figures in a blender” or “here’s a hint of a Dalek” clips? I dunno.
How about an hour of vintage video game commercials?
Keep in mind these were from an era where the ads had higher production values than the games could even hope to match. It’s why the screenshots in magazine advertisements were often the size of postage stamps. 🙂
I’m back home after a must-go family trip (as in “the family demands that you must go with them”) and I’m back to having my usual tools and hardware to make stuff for you, the internet.
On the plus side, Josh learned “skip rocks.” It’s very effective.
I did have my laptop with me, so I could find the following and drop them in your virtual laps:
• Remember the scandal-ridden video game, Aliens: Colonial Marines? It turns out at least one of its gameplay issues was caused by a one-letter typo that affected the aliens’ A.I.
• Could there be only one fandom left that’s “good?” Frank Herbert’s Dune might be it, by virtue of being hard to turn into a cash-cow franchise… so far.
• Maybe I’m missing something, but is this trailer for the next season of Doctor Who about as non-specific as you could get without leaving the title off? I was kind of hoping for a bit of a tease regarding a villain or two, unless it’s someone who teleports the pizza we just ate back into the box so we have to eternally consume it or starve.
• How about some puzzle-gaming with Hexa-Knot? Swap hexagonal tiles with multiple colored lines on them to form completed paths while electro-synth music plays in the background.
Finally, the full song of the “Country Roads” cover from Fallout 76 has been released on the Tubes of You:
The song was sung by a group called “Spank Live,” I think. If it’s the same group as the one I found via my Google-Fu, they’re usually an acapella rhythm combo act as displayed in this performance of “Duke of Earl.”
Anyhoo, it was driving me bonkers that I couldn’t hear the complete cover, and it seemed odd that the fandom (or Bethesda) hadn’t unearthed the performers behind it yet. That’s one national nightmare we can safely put behind us.
• If you’re around 40 years old and thinking you’re obsolete, just remember that the Voyager spacecraft are still chugging along, and they were launched with 8-track tape drives on board.
• From the same place I read about Voyager 1 and 2, here’s a Wikipedia list of all the objects we’ve put into space that are leaving the Solar System.
I just ran across an animated GIF from the following vintage commercial. I’m trying to envision the brainstorming process that resulted in the creation of this product, and I can’t do so without thinking that there was a gas leak or other mind-altering conditions at play:
Out of curiosity, I saw one of these on eBay for $55, in case you didn’t want to build your own.
A hurried departure for a family get-together meant I had to delay a noting of Harlan Ellison’s passing until tonight. The accompanying image seems to be the only one available of Ellison having a cameo appearance on Babylon-5 as a Psi Cop without digging out my old B-5 DVDs and then finding something that can actually play the things. Anyway, I found it at the bottom of a petition page for high-def Blu-Ray collections of the show, so credit where credit is due. The Corps thanks the efforts of the petitioner, though (unless I missed them) the Blu-Ray thing probably won’t happen.
Anyway, to the actual subject at hand: Science fiction writer Harlan Ellison has passed away after a long and strange career of being a prolific writer and notorious curmudgeon. Even from his early days, he had something of a reputation, even among other sci-fi writers that had reputations of their own. I think the earliest clue I got about his persona was in one of the best bathroom books I’ve ever owned, “Asimov Laughs Again.” After a bit of a rough introduction to each other, Asimov was asked to point out Ellison during an event at a sci-fi convention. As Harlan wasn’t of towering statue, Asimov asked Ellison to stand up so everyone could see him. He then said something to the effect of, “No, they still can’t see you. Maybe if you stood on the lap of the person sitting next to you?”
It’s hard to tell which tales of his bad luck (or abrasive personality) affecting his career path are true or false, which I suppose adds to his legend. One that wasn’t about him per se but was a story I heard from a former colleague was told to me when I worked at the Yellow Pages. A salesman who was a collector of old science fiction books pointed out one of the space-filler ads we ran in the Yellow Pages. It was just a small square with some dotted lines and a header that read “Notes.” In the days before the internet was available everywhere on every device, if he didn’t have any paper and decided to remove the page from the phone book with the information he needed, this salesman would always write, “Sorry about the book. (Signed) Harlan Ellison.”
We have no idea if there are hotels or other places of business that got upset at Mr. Ellison for his rampant vandalism, but in case anyone ever ran across that while trying to find a restaurant’s phone number, you now know the truth. Unless Harlan did that kind of thing, too.
Anyway, rest in peace Mr. Ellison, I’ve enjoyed a lot of your works, I’m glad you helped as Babylon-5‘s conceptual consultant, and I even liked both the story and the video game, “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.” I’m not sure I can recommend the game, as I don’t know what shape it’s in these days. The original was really buggy (I think one part might have even been unwinnable on the old CD-ROM version I used to have), but you get to hear Ellison as the voice of the angry A.I. called AM, so there’s that. There’s also (warning: not for young sci-fi fans) a commentary-free walkthrough on YouTube, which might be an easier way to experience it if you’re not into point-n-click adventures.
Also, for some reason, he did a commercial for the infamous Geo car line:
It’s not so much a funny commercial apart from knowing how the cars didn’t quite catch on and that someone decided that Harlan Ellison would be a boffo spokesperson. If anyone knows why he was picked, please leave a comment. I don’t think he did much in 1989 apart from a book of film reviews, so maybe sci-fi writers were in vogue?
I’m back home after a must-go family trip (as in “the family demands that you must go with them”) and I’m back to having my usual tools and hardware to make stuff for you, the internet.
A hurried departure for a family get-together meant I had to delay a noting of Harlan Ellison’s passing until tonight. The accompanying image seems to be the only one available of Ellison having a cameo appearance on Babylon-5 as a Psi Cop without digging out my old B-5 DVDs and then finding something that can actually play the things. Anyway, I found it at the bottom of 
