Dream 2020.2.3

Dreamed I was watching a movie from the 70s on The Weather Channel. I was looking for a bowl for food or something and Data’s hand was walking around on a checkered floor like Thing from the Addams Family, grabbing the bowl. Then the narration started. Some British guy was talking about his exile from society. The camera was pointed straight down from above as he was walking across a snowy landscape towards the bottom right of the screen, chased by a multitude of cars. His feet were sliding as he walked so he covered great distances with few steps, basically like he was superimposed on the footage. The next few scenes involved him swooping through the skies. The camera followed him tightly as he dipped and soared. He was a moose or large goat or yak in ski gear. There were trees close to the ground, and very narrow, very tall mountains here and there. There was one mountain in particular that had a tree on it where he landed and had to face his rival. There was just enough room for the two of them to stand on the top of the round, green hill. The tree was small so they fought with it between them. The opposing flying creature-person put its arms up to grab the protagonist’s neck, but he just punched the rival in the shoulders, causing them to fall backwards. The protagonist then grabbed the tree and took it and its dirt mound with him as he leapt off the small round mountain and swooped up, turning into a grey fighter jet in the distance and flying far away. The copyright information displayed on the screen. I tried to record it on a DVR at Mom’s house but when I played the recording there was just static.

Japan 2019 days 2-4

Day 2 started off with an early train to Kyoto. I was oddly queasy on the Shinkansen, unlike during my previous trip. When we arrived, we got on the bus to see the Kinkakuji, known less well in English as the Golden Pavilion. There’s a lot to write about it but the structure that exists now is impressively gold and sits in a very nice area just behind some regular-looking shops and houses.

Kinkakuji rear view
Continue reading “Japan 2019 days 2-4”

Japan 2019 day 1

We got to Tokyo around 4:30 PM and immediately proceeded with festivities

Popped into Lawson to get tickets for the Mass of the Fermenting Dregs concert this Saturday. Extremely excited to finally see them live.

Then we went to our hotel. Never stayed in a capsule hotel before but it was super chill and it had an amazing shower. There were lockers to keep luggage in and all you had to do to open them was scan the QR code on your “room key” (which incidentally was not required to open your capsule.)

Continue reading “Japan 2019 day 1”

Dream 2019.8.31

Dreamed I was in a vast countryside/farm area. I knew from reading a report from the future that a small dog was angry with me and would pick up a large chunk of concrete, stand on my car, and fling it into my windows. A car-sized meteor hit the ground and bounced slightly, leaving a large impression. I put the dog in my car with a now dented passenger window and went to look for the meteor. When I found the meteor, the area rapidly became midtown and I was having a hard time parking. The meteor had been built into an alcove on the outside of someone’s house with a chair and a fountain.

My dreams were in turbo mode last night.

A guy at work took my headphones because they were the kind that went with his Cadillac

My car key broke in half and there was wood inside so I was going to try to superglue it back together

There was a tricot EP I didn’t know existed but the shipping on it was $40

Madeleine L’Engle wrote a fantasy/Star Wars ripoff book trilogy but it had a really exact painting of Darth Vader on the back cover and he was in the story too, but completely removed from the context of Star Wars itself

Space Invaders Deluxe Repair Log

This repair has been in the works for about two and a half years. It was stopped variously by lack of knowledge, lack of proper tools, and lack of time, but eventually repairs were completed and the game is fully functional.

When I started working on it, of course the first thing I had to do was replace the original AC plug end with one that hadn’t had its ground pin removed. Old arcade ops seem to have been very bad about removing them. After that, I also had to switch out the fuse block because the original was so corroded and soft, I’m sure it wouldn’t have done its job much longer.

Continue reading “Space Invaders Deluxe Repair Log”

Custom SCART switcher problems

I like Ben Heck’s idea for custom a AV switch, but the CBT3244 bus switch chips don’t have enough bandwidth for analog signals. Loud audio clips and bright video blanks out. I’ve just had to go back to manually plugging in one SCART cable at a time (everything is RGB now) unless I can find a method that allows this many inputs without losing quality. It seems like using a method designed more with these issues in mind is much more complicated and maybe out of my realm of expertise.

I promise, it isn’t dangerous.

TurboGrafx / PC Engine HuCard Trays Up for Sale!


They’ve been a while coming but are finally here! I now sell replacement trays for TurboGrafx-16 and PC Engine games. These are designed to fit in a standard jewel case and allow you to store your games as you would in their original cases. You can even print art for the back to simulate the original spine sticker and fit it underneath the tray. Check them out in my eBay items for sale.