Wicker Man

Steps took with rite ritual pace
Stones crumble and chalk once life imbued
Apprehensions rushing with wind on my face
Gaul and gold proceeds the gate

Bled on borrowed throne wrought repose
From Beacon hills wicker flames broke
Calling those to reap wishes sown
yielding only sorrow as I spoke


I have been trying to look at what i do when i right to help people along. I'm not saying this shit is any good, just saying it's here and this is how i got it here. Anyway, abstraction is my tool. As you can guess by the titles there is a lot of music in it. Also many places that I have build up with some emotional connection. I sort of try to boil them down to as few words as I can and then stick them together. The sounds in my mind are often more important than the meanings im thinking about. From there i sort of work it until they pieces sort of fit. A Maiden song with a Sierra road by my high school and stuff like that. A bunch of it is fragments that i stick together. This one was Bruce dickinson's Wicker Man, not Iron Maiden's, and acoustic song. The place was the little statue garden in Villa Montalvo.

;

Retro Gaming 101 part 2 "Modern Consoles"

Game compilations are nothing new especially those that bundle up a few old games into a new package. Usually this was something you would see for early games release in the life of a particular system or ports to the PC. Recently retro game packages hit, bundling old arcade perfect ports to home game systems. This has created a renaissance for retro gaming. Below is a guide to some of the modern titles.

Personally I feel Midway arcade treasures is the best package to come out to date, with Midway arcade treasures 2 a strong second. They offer around 20 old school games for about 20 dollars; which I see as an amazing deal. The games range from early 80's to mid 90's which allows for a fun trip down memory lane. By these NOW!!!

For old school console games I would look at Intellivsion lives and the Atari Anthology. These offer TONS of games for a bargain price. Intellivision even includes histories and documentaries; a first rate product for game historians. Atari offers both arcade and cartridge ports for a total of 85 games. Finally Playstation owners can also grab the activision anthology of atari 2600 games, this package looks to offer all the activision and some of the imagic games. There is actually a PC version with more Imagic and some homebrew games.

Nintendo and Genesis era gamers will enjoy the Sonic Mega plus and Megaman anniversary collections. These offer a histories of the venerable game lines that equal hours of play. My fellow Xbox owners can look for the Megaman game in March. Konami has gone a unusual route and offered a collection of 5 nes ports only to the PC. I hope we will be seeing something like this hit the consoles soon but it will need to include a few more games to be of significant value.

Finally I am left with Namco Museum. Good I hate this thing, it shows up everywhere, it is the grand father of console retro gaming. It has few games and all from the early years of arcades. It just isn't worth the money unless you see it cheap. I could recommend it if they had included just two more games. Of not for Playstation owners, this was something of a line on the PS 1 and there were something like six versions. With a little digging and maybe some eBay you could grab the PS1 versions of the games.


Game Xbox PS2 Game cube
---- ---- --- ---------
Midway 1 Yes yes yes
Midway 2 Yes yes yes
Intellivsion Yes Yes Yes
Atari Yes Yes No
Activision No Yes No
Sonic Yes Yes Yes
Megaman Mar 05 Yes Yes


Next I will take a look at some of the costs and pains of tracking down old school consoles. Also I will take a look at emulators, Jamma and Ultracade.
;

Quicksilver

Walking stones rise as bones on ridgelines arched against the canopied blue Sunlight blind here shadowed down the eyes as she steps lined with light Shadowed hazy burnt with golds and woods Oaken vantage point on high circling in the sky Maybe she loved me perhaps just here



Ok ok, it's full on Green is the Colour. With some of the sights near the mercury mines near my home.
;

Love and hope put to the test

She whispered away the terror when the neddle bit the skin Her eyes raced with the bleeding down the line and surge of the return Chemicals in the mix I taste the swine In measures my arm shakes when giving out After hours its grown cold and static blurs the edge of sight But it ends and in time was gone

;

No birds caught

Through the sawdust streets of the shattered glass steppes the fog is hanging low Whispering amid the wanting stones Here the houses glow on holiday eves Clasp with family an only a wash with vain though through distance and fog it begins to wan Closing my eyes the panic bites and shake like a dog Holding on hard cus im afraid to let go Afraid to see the last whispers serpent away Afraid for the day the dreams all forgot

;

Retro gaming 101 "TV Games"

I came to retro gaming through my pack rat tendencies rather than a conscious choice, but I wanted to work up something to get people started. Retro gaming has hit its stride recently, which makes the proposition much easier to start. The first question you will need to ask is how into this am I, or how much time and money am i willing to put in? I will be breaking down my guide into three broad groups. The TV gamer, The modern system owner and finally the old school collector.

TV GAMER:
Tv games are an interesting development of the past couple of years. Basically they are a self contained non-expandable gaming system. They are something like the old Pong boxes which played a defined set of games but use modern 3 plug tv connectors. All you need is a modern TV, 20 bucks and batteries and your up and playing. There are several of these on the market and I want to steer you to the best.

I personally only dip into this category of games when there is something I can't get else where. The Konami Collector's series is on my Christmas wish list and i own the Sega controller. Otherwise i say go with Atari carts off eBay. If you are interested I would say start with the Atari and Activision games. They have classic games and are easy to find. I recommend the 2 controller version of the paddle game, as those are usually games played head to head. I would pick and choose form there the games you used to play. Also if you are looking for a Nintendo Entertainment System one, i have seen something at a kiosk in the mall that i couldn't find a link for. Also there is another Sega Arcade legend game coming in January so be on the look out

hre is the list!

Atari classics 10 in 1 TV Games:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000645DD/qid=1102380762/sr=8-5/ref=pd_csp_5/002-3909374-6674438?v=glance&s=toys&n=507846
Activision 10 in 1 TV:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001HYSG4/qid=1102380762/sr=8-6/ref=pd_csp_6/002-3909374-6674438?v=glance&s=toys&n=507846
Atari 2-Player Paddle Controller with 13 Games (GET THE TWO CONTROLLER VERSION THESE ARE TWO PLAYER GAMES):http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001HYSFU/qid=1102380762/sr=8-4/ref=pd_csp_4/002-3909374-6674438?v=glance&s=toys&n=507846
Namco TV GAMES:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009VDXX/qid=1102380762/sr=8-3/ref=pd_csp_3/002-3909374-6674438?v=glance&s=toys&n=507846
Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000631W0/ref=pd_ys_pym_all_13/002-3909374-6674438?v=glance&s=videogames
Namco II: Ms Pac-Man with 5 TV Games:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001GBROQ/qid=1102380762/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-3909374-6674438?v=glance&s=videogames&n=507846
Sega Genesis Arcade Legends Plug N Play:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002E7C96/ref=pd_sr_ec_ir_vg/002-3909374-6674438?v=glance&s=videogames&st=*
Space Invaders Arcade Legends Plug N Play:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002E7C9G/ref=pd_ys_pym_all_15/002-3909374-6674438?v=glance&s=videogames


That's it for now look back soon for more info.
;

Burnt Offerings

Take the moments before the sun drips into the west and trees burn golden in shallowed light On open fields congealed frozen plains stalking as ghosts of winter Happiness comes in bitter colors on these frayed ends of the year I had dreams of saving her from the dark things behind the sun A boy dreams such simple connections of love and debt But she was the one mending me and I didn't know what to do with the way that felt

;

Revelations track2

Throught the smoke beginning to cough where pitch burns skin Never whispers shadows into flame Gather on greens how once they held delight With leagues the sky alite caverns of night Terrible and wonderful where sorrow known Accord and misery now felt whispers from flame

Poetry Process 2

Sheer'd in night drape
weeping lake bridged stone
Burnt and finally broken
quiet yet becoming alone

I am starting to see this as Breaking Bridges which i guess is what im getting at here. But i feel like i am meaning the bridges of memory and hang ups. Moving on to something less effected, healing maybe

;

Peace on Earth Sells but who's buying

Man christmas is getting down. I don't want to be the only person who can take a wonderful time like christmas and turn it into a problem, but! Man I dont know what to get people, who really have everything. My parents where hard pressed to come up with any ideas. A few of us did that Amazon.com wish list thing but everyone else acts like it would be wrong to make a list. "I have so much already." Ok can I just give some cash to someone, and not have your feelings hurt when you don't have anything to open. Well we both know it's no, so just give me a fucking list.

Don't think this is one of those preachy give your money to charity episodes. I have worked at second harvest food bank and helped out. I guess I was trying to be a better person or something stupid. After I lost my kidneys the world started seeming constructed of random cruelty mixed with some structured kindness. I'm trying not to think that way, im sort of a bastard in person because of it. It's best to ignore me.

Any way It's like I'm running into the realities of christmas. Someone fucked it up along the road. Halmark, Coke, Disney! Maybe it was growing up, maybe its life. The time it takes to make christmas work leaves no time for enjoying christmas. No getting up the lights. No watching the christmas tree at night. I can remember just looking at the way all the strands of lights blinked in chaos and the patterns they made through the pine needles on the ceiling. I can remember going to see all the lights in around town. Now its rushing around and pressuring people for gift ideas.

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT?

poety process

Choke the birds from the sky
littered in abattior rot
Feather and bone festooned fence lines
though in the sky not

This bit im thinking about a road i drove on today that used to have a slaughter house on it. Also some freaky sculpture done out of animal bones.

Im looking for something to go into now but i dont feel anything nor do i have any images in my head. Perhaps a barn on some lonely rainy day. Decaying into the ground. Maybe on Marsh road in milpitas or something I will have to think about it a bit.

;

Tales of Brave Ulysses

Shatter the window with hail and gail stalking outside Mired in deeps untold drowning void Calling though the maelstorm though the words drown from my lips Dwale drunk and fluid coughing as the embers slip away Pavement crack shards under waters weight And Its finally beginning to take shape And all the communication seems to wash away Foundations soon soaked and break Day whispers on the hillsides but what it holds I'm beginning to fear Denote, revile and hope smeared with an inner doubt Bleeding out the silvered sky


;

Donnie Darko / Strange Brew

This week i am going to take a look at a couple of movies i indeed own, so the reviews will be decidedly positive. This weeks its Donnie Darko and Strange Brew. Certainly different sorts of films but not so off.

I remember seeing a picture from Donnie Dark on aintitcoolnews.com and thinking hey i want to see that. Well kidney failure and transplant later i found it at BlockBuster soon after hitting DVD. My wife and I watch the film and just sat a while talking about it. Which is always a good sign because most of the time i go that was crap or something. I like a lot of whats going on in the movie, the pseudo science, the sound track factoring into jokes. Ill describe it as a horror thriller until all you spoiler free people stop reading. Just skip down to the Strange Brew part. Ok so really its a scifi love story. Donnie creates a pocket reality where a giant satanic bunny rabbit helps him get the girl and then to finish off the causality trap kill the person in the bunny suit so that he can become his advisor. A little confusing but totally worth a watch.



Strange Brew

I have always loved Canada, and im not sure why. Perhaps i am attracted just to North in a Glenn Gould sort of way. I like the bleekness and the harshness you see on cars or what not. I like the way time seem to not change things so much. Things seem fixed and immune to change of facade but maybe thats just my video. Like watching the model of Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood, those models never change. Strange brew is sort of a time capsule for 82 Toronto which i love. The story is both moronic and inspired at the same time, it is actually hamlet though few people know that. The jokes are often over the top and terribly stupid but they are delivered with the perfect touch that its hard not to love the movie. To even go into the plot is pointless its a movie of moments. But its got Beer, Doughnuts and toronto skunks what is not to love.

3d6 to large creatures

Another Thursday another game. Thats right after far too long a game came together. The chips were down but we pulled it off. My books and module were shanghai'd with my car, by a visiting relative. I had to buy a PDF off RPGNOW.com to play!

Little actually happened, our wayward fighter finally bowed out. Sort of for the best really. The party found a cache of items, totally Monty Hall old school games. I'm running the U3 final enemy which is certainly old school. They found some of it was water breathing stuff and made there way back to town for payment. They wanted more money to help but the town basically said they bled them dry and are off to war.

I guess they have the option of doing a last run into the stronghold or moving on. How they proceed will effect what happens pretty directly at the start of the next game night.

Slacker / Van Helsing

I got a chance to watch a couple of movies this weekend and figured here would be a good start for a series of movie reviews. I watch movies a bit and have had this idea running around my head for a awhile. I check out aintitcoolnews.com a bit and I am certainly not that sort of movie fan. I don't get excited about everything I see, gosh that Harry dude lists his video picks and it looks like every movie coming out. I rarely find more than a couple of DVD's a season. I guess I'm not a person who loves movies but rather a person who loves the movies I love.

Anyway I rented Van Hellsing and Slacker from the video store. Neither was a purchase nor do i feel a need to run out and buy either.

Lets start with Van Hellsing, I hated this fucking piece of crap. It was one of those non movies that Will Smith constantly comes out with. You know you see it and you don't really remember it 10 minutes later so you can watch it over and over. These turds usually have a bunch of goofy scenes and subplots that lead no where. I think this is to confuse your brain into instantly forgetting the film. Here the plot was sort of lame and then there was a useless thing about Van Hellsing being the arch angel Gabriel, WTF! The effects were terrible and just looked shitty. Mr. Hyde looked like a DIC cartoon.., Yeah like "you cant stop the littles cuz the littles don't stop"! Bomble from Rudolphs shiny new year looked better. What the hell David Wenham was doing in this after Lord of the Rings is beyond me. Stay the hell away from this!

Slacker was better but not great. I think there was a time in my life that I would have loved slacker and if those events had played out I would still like this movie. But my friends that remind me of characters in the movie have moved on. Im left somewhat nostalgic but mostly sad for the people in the film. It could be that I saw it at 30, but really I think its where I live. Idle youth just doesn't work here in the silicon valley where you have to work 60 hours a week to make rent. Anyway the film not having a plot wasn't to much of a problem for me, though i could see it being for other people. It sort of drifts from character to character moving exponentially into the cosmos and perhaps back in time. I say back in time because the last scene seemed like a 60's era home movie. I liked the parts that seemed more staged and had some comedy like the old lady getting hit or I should have stay at the bus station bit. As it moved I either saw something of my own pretensions in the peoples speeches or saw people that I recognized and didn't like. Their is a fellow who convinces some girls to go to a show with him claiming he has passes but actually didn't; he bugged the hell out of me. Maybe that's from my metal days, straight forward task execution mindedness. The guy seems too manipulative to me. I can see how people have liked the film though. I'm living in the reality where I rented Hal Hartleys Trust maybe elsewhere this is a universe where i rented Slacker and am waiting to buy Before Sunrise on DVD.

Until Later

;

Cymbaline

The side streets there to hide Cut away the contacts and communication She isn't around nor touched this place for years But i find it needing if together only dreamt Broken stone builds ravens closing in Double helix shadows stood now forgot Flooded ward dancing sunlight on wind driven waves Here the windows are broken where once she looked out Final cut phone rings The voice is whispering down the line Feeding into the daydream good to hear the scarecrow is doing fine



I sort of put myself into a mood and place and started going from there. I was thinking about an area of California Street in palo alto which is where the double helix shadow is. From there I had obviously Cymbaline in my head, I sort of though to the songs rhythm, off More. Thank you Pink Floyd! Through a couple degrees of seperation i jumped to Kubrik my friend Derek Tarkoffsky and finally Stalker. I was specifically thinking of the flooded hospital/clinic where the trio rested. Also that seen where the phone rings while they are in the zone sort of out of no where. Back to a floyd song and Scarecrow touch. Well that is a little insight into it.

Happy Hallows
;

Pillow of Winds

Hailing the west mountain with shallow and stretching light Over the fumes and corning ware chemical bath Through windows that lament the days drowning outside lightly slapped shaking by multitudes of flags Fields too far resign and yeild gold or rust at seasons march Down the valley clouds begin to keep and winds to shriek Forgotten orchards still would reap yet see how the plows are overgrow and rot Where stalks upon dreamt shores autum golems with tiny epiphany wrought

Amoung the Living

I dont know if its the time of year, the change of colors, but it feels time for a change. I'm wasting my time on quit a bit of crap and it has to stop. I have spent my life as a traveller trying to stay way from bonds and responsiblity. Playing Bards Tale 3 and watching Night Court. This is what i guess for living a life never pushed, never driven.

But you dont get wise with the sleep still in your eyes I hear so I better get going. I am going to be working on a couple of larger format things for you and perhaps getting an FTP set up so i can distribute other media. Hopefully you will start seeing the first serialized story hitting by in a couple of days. Also I am going to be working on putting more of my late night drives into words and pictures.

Until later
;

New Lystra

Heading toward dark through old burnt orchards Cold and clarity came with the rains Now it's lifting some girl sings about big skies though through windows just black Heavy drops sometimes bleed down the window It's all memory driving home Wishing myself someone better Into days already said Near sleep she's feeling something is wrong I'm just quiet waiting for the scarecrow to speak

Alms

Its been awhile, I feel like I have fallen off the wagon and am climbing back on. Happy to be getting back off the ground but ashamed of the fall. I've been wandering for a few weeks and not finding much in my schemes. Looking at work its falling apart, I don't care so much and I'm not on top of things. Contentment turns sour some days and you taste the bile in regret.

Some things just are not making me happy these days; I dont understand it. I used to love certain things now I am forgetting about them completely when I have people waiting for me. Some call that depression but its feels like a change. I want something from my time, something to say hey cool i did this. Not a high level Everquest character who is a grand master smith. Even if its just a shabby little poem to post here; after all im just a shabby little poet.

I want to watch the clouds race across the face of the moon on an early october night, at least that is a memory.

I hope to be able to say I will post more regularly, but no promises just work.

;

P.s. listening to the new Grails CD, Redlight, and its awesome go buy it!