Top Hat Sasquatch

Well, now I feel old. On September 9th, 1999 the awesome and soon to be doomed Sega Dreamcast came out in the US. Back then I was in 8th grade and I saved up money from my crappy after school job to buy one. I have a funny history with the Dreamcast, and hearing about the anniversary got me thinking about it again.

Seeing Sonic Adventure on display at Toys R Us sold me on the Dreamcast, and even sold my parents enough to let me spend my money on it. The funny thing is though, living in a small town with only a Walmart to buy games and consoles, by the time I had my money saved they were all out of Sonic Adventure. I was distraught, but there was no way I was leaving the store without a game to play, so I blindly bought Power Stone. I had no idea what the game was and it was not the type of game I would normally buy, but I was desperate.

Luckily, I ended up loving that game. The kicker? To this day, I have still not played Sonic Adventure. I loved my Dreamcast, but for some reason I never got around to playing it’s flagship game. Some of my favorite games were Toy Commander, Crazy Taxi, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, some football game (I went through a brief sports phase in middle school), Shenmue, and of course Seaman.

I don’t remember how long I owned my first Dreamcast, but eventually I sold it or traded it in, probably for more video games. A few years later when I was in my first college attempt, I bought one used at a game store and enjoyed the hell out of it all over again. But, my history as a serial console-seller caught up with me and I got ride of it again. I don’t know what is wrong with me.

Now I want one again but I’m trying to resist. I’m planning on building a gaming PC instead of buying into the next gen consoles this generation, and I’m hoping I can emulate my favorite Dreamcast games at that point. It’s hard to resist jumping on ebay and buying a bunch o Dreamcast stuff again though.

Who else was a Dreamcast fan? Sound off with your favorite games or memories!

It might be the worst movie, but it’s the best record book of the bunch. Rounding out the last of our post-baby special episodes, here’s the record book for Return of the Jedi. Look for a new, non-Star Wars episode in two weeks!

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Check out these awesome prints our friend Justin Gammon of the awesome site Weirdo Toys is contributing to the 3NES Exhibit at Bottleneck Gallery. I’ve been hearing a lot about the 3NES show and I wish I could be in Brooklyn this weekend to check it out, but Bottleneck will start their online sales Saturday, so I’m crossing my fingers I can snag Justin’s awesome prints.

Justin created three prints inspired by Mario, Zelda, and Metroid, and they’re all awesome. Make sure to head over to his site to check out his post that explains the process behind each one.

You can keep up with the show at Bottleneck’s website and Facebook page.

Protip: Signalnoise (aka James White) also has some bitchin’ art at this show.

Continuing the post-baby Star Wars extravaganza, this week we’ll listen to The Empire Strikes Back, produced in 1980 by Buena Vista Records. Next week we’ll finish off the series with Return of the Jedi.

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Instagram has become one of the Internet’s most popular social networks. The photo-sharing service is also a tremendous platform for visual artists to show off their creations.

As a huge fan of comic art, I follow many notable illustrators on Instagram. (You find my inane photos under tmbr.) I love seeing updates from my favorites like Jake Parker, Skottie Young, Alex Deligiannis, and Joe Vriens. There is so much talent to be experienced I felt it necessary to highlight some of the lesser known artists.

To make this list, artists had to meet three important criteria:

1. They must regularly post their comic illustrations.
2. They must have an aptitude for drawing.
3. They must have less than 1,000 followers at the time of their inclusion.

These folks may not have the 10,000+ followers of Becky Cloonan or Bryan Lee O’Malley, but they have as much skill. Everyone of them is worth your Instagram attention.

Enjoy…
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