Human Space Invaders

I found this today - it is human space invaders. It's really quite something else.

I also have secured the PCB for Robocop, which I hope to install in one of my JAMMA cabinets when it arrives. I recently learned that it shared a cabinet with Bad Dudes back in the day, even having a curved marquee which I suspect I can find if I try hard enough. Now, I love Bad Dudes, but options are good too.

I have just learned about Afro Ken, made by the company that brought us Hello Kitty many years ago. He is a dog with an awesome rainbow afro, that morphs to fit his environment...thank you Japan!! Here is some youtube explanation, as I'm sure I didn't do it justice.
Posted by charlie on July 31st 2006
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Planets Playfield

My technique for pinball playfield restoration now is captured in photo and word. A portion of the Williams Planets playfield is stripped, cleaned, and rebuilt in the latest restoration article.

By way of other geeky electrical things, here are some pics of Tesla activity. Also, this is the number one google return for the search 'creating a temporary electrical ground'. Stephen Colbert how right you are!
Posted by charlie on July 28th 2006
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Peter Cullen

The Uncle has told me that The Man, The Legend, Mr. Peter Cullen has in fact been tapped to provide the voice of Optimus Prime in the upcoming Transformers 'live action' movie. This choice was up in the air for a very long time, and I'm glad that Michael Bay at least has made one good decision for this movie (actually it probably had nothing to do with him). Now we'll see if he can make a few more.
Posted by charlie on July 24th 2006
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Sage

This weekend past Sage visited from Micronesia, where he is busy raising his army of judo ninja masters. We had several video game highlights, including playing the infamous SegaCD game Night Trap through to the end. I like to imagine that through a combination of the unpopularity of that platform, combined with the short shelf-life of the game when Congress took it to the mat, we are one of a handful of people who now have experienced this singular journey. I admit that after several false starts where we figured out how to play the game, we relied on a FAQ on line. The steps necessary to actually get to the end of the game are pattently absurd - sometimes leaving only seconds between the springing of each 'trap' and not allowing you to see any of the 'plot' of teenage (really probably late twenties) girls at their sleep-over party wearing non-revealing night clothes. The best part is - we got what would appear to be a 'bad' ending after 25 minutes of twitch gaming, though there's really no way to be sure that there's anything but! We made a few mistakes along the way, but had hoped that we were within tolerances; at least it got us to the end, but totally had the 'you win, but you lose!' feel. It was an awesome experience.

In other Game Preserve news, I picked up my new Nintendo Vs. Castlevania cabinet today. It's in pretty great condition, has a newly recapped monitor, and plays Castlevania like crazy! Definitely awesome, and I can play any other Nintendo Vs. title in there with a switch of the board.
Posted by charlie on July 23rd 2006
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Pinball Collection

The task for last night was to get some pics of pins in the garage, as best as possible, and start to catalog the fairly sizable Preserve Pinball Collection to date. Due to some over-packing issues (at the Preserve...no!!) in the garage, I wasn't able to get good shots of several, but will post soon. Also have an image which indicates how the barn is a little full right now.

I must say that I'm very proud that the Preserve is now the first result for the google searches Computer Warriors and Tussin bottle empty. It is indeed a banner day!
Posted by charlie on July 14th 2006
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Air Guitar

We just saw a show about the Airguitar World Championships - it was really something. I think their quote sums it up best:

"The Purpose of the Air Guitar World Championships is to promote world peace. According to the ideology of the Air Guitar, wars would end and all the bad things would disappear, if all the people in the world played the Air Guitar. This is why the whole universe is invited to play the Air Guitar at the end of the competition."

Bill and Ted live on!
Posted by charlie on July 10th 2006
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Tom Jones

As if there were any doubt at all, the Tom Jones show last weekend was amazing. He had some moves that clearly took the decades of his career to hone as finely as we witnessed, and the panties they did fly upon the stage, most specifically when he sang She's a Lady. I think the most tragic thing I saw was a lady, probably in her 50s, who threw her drawers with all her might, but they caught an unfortunate cross breeze and fell short of the stage. She spent the next 2 minutes trying to get the bouncer/security guy to retrieve them for her, so she could try again, but finally had to give up and sullenly return to her seat. I guess this just goes to show that you have to bring a couple spare panties to a Tom Jones show.

While we only had a cellphone for photographic evidence, these are at least two awesome artifacts from the show. You can see, from the stage picture, that he's standing in a veritable sea of panties, roses...and one pair of boxer shorts.
Posted by charlie on July 5th 2006
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