Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek
TSR and the Parkside Association of Wargamers (PAW) co-hosted Gen Con XI at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. See an ad for the convention at Zenopus Archives. Can someone tell me what the symbol in the top grid stands for?
The shirt sold for $41 on eBay.
A computer day camp in Chicago, December, 1979. PCs on display include the Apple II, the TRS-80, and the TI-99/4. The latter was brand new at the time. There’s another one I can’t identify to the right of the kid raising his hand. It looks a little like a Commodore PET.
Note the Garfield notebook in the first shot, and the BASIC code in the second. The kid typing the code (you can read all of it starting with line 95) is wearing an Izod sweater.
Terrific all-around coverage of an early lab and the kids who got to use it.
(Photos via eBay seller Historical Images)
True: Skatetown U.S.A. was Swayze’s film debut. He played Ace, the bad boy.
Need more Patrick Swayze on roller skates? Here he is (red suspenders) in a 1981 A&W Root Beer commercial.
I believe this is called decor porn. I found the photos at Mice Chat. They’re originally from a 1970 Japanese magazine.
Here’s some more, supposedly from the hotel architect, Alfred Nicholson. Look at those colors, the beaded light fixtures, the lush ferns.
I want to visit these places and talk to the ghosts who live there. (Remember the empty shopping malls?)
Here’s a shot of the hotel lobby today (via USA Today) for comparison. It could be much worse. Pretty soon every space we inhabit will look like the waiting room at a doctor’s office.
Ken Kelly and Frank Frazetta are family, and Kelly grew up admiring the work of his “Uncle Frank.” The Frazetta style—the overwhelmingly imperiled Romantic hero set against a backdrop of otherworldly colors and atmosphere—is obvious here.
Kelly would never completely escape his mentor’s shadow, but a lot of his sci-fi work is wonderfully unique. These are some of his earliest covers.
The “sci-fi thriller theme is only the first of several outstanding major movies directed to a broad family audience…” Compulsory death at age 30 has broad family appeal? Hilarious.
The second page lists more puzzles in the works based on “family” films: The Deep, Rollercoaster (terrorist plants bomb on rollercoaster), Damnation Alley (not as exciting as it sounds), and The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (cocaine-addled Sherlock Holmes undergoes psychoanalysis with Freud).
The puzzle does look pretty amazing, if you’re into puzzles (I am). It’s based on the movie poster art by Charles Moll, best known for his sci-fi and fantasy paperback covers.
At the same Logan’s Run fan site, I found a couple of pages of a play-by-mail RPG based on the novel and movie. What a great idea. Was there never a comprehensive RPG based in this extended universe?
Middle Earth was released in February of 1978. I’m not sure how early in development it was named, but I bet Atari was banking on the fanfare surrounding the upcoming LOTR animated feature. The Rankin-Bass Hobbit TV special had aired the previous year.
The theme has nothing to do with Tolkien, obviously. What we’re seeing is a futuristic Lost World scenario, which is why Atari could get away with using `Middle Earth’ without any copyright issues. The concept also plays off of Dino De Laurentiis’ King Kong (December 1976) and the Godzilla-mania of the late ’70s.
The spectacular art is by George Opperman, who created the Atari logo.
(Images via the Internet Pinball Machine Database, where you can find more views of the game, and The Arcade Flyer Archive)
Ever wonder why Mego went bankrupt? Here you go. According to the Mego Museum, it’s “the last licensed product” the company produced, although only the “Free-Wheeling Convertible Bug” set made it into stores, and in very limited quantities. The 8″ figures are positively frightening. Check out the forehead on Connie Sellecca!
“Kids love him because he’s goofy.” No. No we don’t.
Three puzzles were released. That’s three too many. Hire an artist, cheapskates! The blur effect isn’t fooling anyone. Someone took a picture of some action figures and slapped it on a box.
American Publishing Corp. published a ton of puzzles well into the ’80s, including a series of D&D puzzles starting in 1983.
(Images via eBay)
2 Warps to Neptune 