November Rain

Don't ask me why, but I put November Rain by Guns N Roses on a mix cd that has been in my car for about the past three months. Its an mp3 cd, so there are about 150 songs on it. Ah, already I'm apologizing for this song, and that's the point of this post. It is just one of those songs, furthermore one of those bands, that you just can't really decide if you like, or if it is good.

Guns N Roses (GNR) were formed in 1985 and released their major label debut Appetite For Destruction in 1987. I was six years old in 1987, but I was pretty well aware of GNR at that time, even if most of their hateful lyrics went right over my head. I even wore this shirt a lot when I was in grade school.



Can you believe that? With all the guns shooting and knives and yes, a rose. I remember needles too, so either my memory is fuzzy or this is not the exact shirt. Either way, no fourth grader would make it in the door with this shirt on now.

Another funny GNR memory is when I was about that age I saw Axl Rose performing on television wearing an N.W.A. hat. I didn't know what N.W.A. stood for so I asked my dad. He obviously didn't think it appropriate to tell me the truth so he made up a slightly less offensive answer: "No Whites Allowed." Thats one of those things I can look back at now and laugh my ass off about, even though I didn't understand back then.

Of course by the time I got hooked on Nirvana et. al, GNR became the enemy. The Kurt/Axl feud aside, I remember a sound clip in the Nirvana film "Live, Tonight, Sold Out!" in which a music reporter quips that Nirvana are the Guns N Roses whom it is okay to like. I understand the comment, you can get all the aggression and rock and roll filth out of a Nirvana record that you can get out of a GNR record without the misogyny and homophobia in the lyrics. On the other hand, I think its okay to like anything, but thats kind of a different point.

Anyway its 2008 and every day for about a week, when the sports radio stations fade out as I'm about to come off the highway, I put on November Rain. At first it struck me as a really good song, then I thought it was really crappy. Now I can't decide, but I like it. The pros are that its a sweeping rock ballad with excellent guitar work from Slash. The cons are that the lyrics are stupid and Axl's voice just doesn't seem right for it.

So is November Rain a good song? Does it matter? Of course not. I just think GNR is a unique band for some reason.

One last point, the next GNR record, whatever it is called, is going to suck absolutely only for the reason of how long it has been in the works. Just think about it. It would be impossible to live up the anticipation (which has now all but dissipated), even if this album were as good as Appetite For Destruction. Everyone will say that it sucks, even if it is somewhat good. It is totally set up for failure.

Anyway just listen to November Rain and watch the awesome video.

The rhythm (based game) is gonna get you!

All I'm missing is "Samba De Amigo"
I love rhythm based music games. Maybe its the musician in me embracing the fake musician in me, but hitting buttons (or fake drums, or footpads, or guitar frets, depending on the game and peripheral) in time with my favorite (and not so favorite) songs will always be fun to me.

Rhythm based games like Dance Dance Revolution and Rock Band are the natural step-kids of Karaoke, the "fake it if you can't make it" singing culture that made its way from Japanese bars all the way around the world and back.

This post is basically a thank you note to my friend and real life band mate Jesse. Today he was nice enough to give me, out of the kindness of his heart, two brand new pairs of Donkey Kong Bongos and a copy of Donkey Konga.

Because of a friend's kind gesture, today is a special day for me. You see, until today I could not find a rhythm based game that my wife and I could play together. Up until today we have been somewhat of a music game odd couple: she with her DDR and me with my Guitar Hero. However within a few seconds of the first song we played together on Donkey Konga we were laughing, clapping and bongo-ing our way to music game marital bliss.

Thank you Nintendo, and thank you Jesse.

Classic Plastic

I've been wanting to write about video games for a while now, but didn't know what exactly to focus on. I still am not really sure where this is going to go, but with a notebook pc on my lap I have no problem rambling on about one of my favorite hobbies as I watch the TAMPA BAY RAYS WIN THE ALDS WTF???? (With my NL pick the Cubs eliminated my full support is now behind the Rays. Tampa Bay all the way.)

Like many people in my generation, I can remember the first time I saw Super Mario Brothers on the NES. At the time it was like nothing I had ever seen (the Atari 2600 and its counterparts were before my time.) I told my dad how awesome it was and within a week we had an NES in our house. I remember going to Sears with him to get it. It was so cool. We played SMB/Duck Hunt for hours upon hours.

"I wish I could shoot that effing dog!!!"

While the NES was quite a family affair for a short while, I particularly enjoyed the Super Nintendo when it was released. Unlike the NES, I felt like the SNES was 'mine' alone. Afterall, my family's interest in gaming had died out and the SNES was my Christmas present from Santa the year it came out.

My love for gaming continued on through each generation, and in 2000 I got both a Sega Dreamcast and an eBay account and so the cycle of buying/selling/collecting had begun. From then until about the time I started hanging out with Eileen I would buy a system and some games for it off of eBay, play it for a few months, and sell it back on eBay later to get something else.

Nowadays I pretty much have a no selling rule. I have found myself revisiting older games that I liked in the past more and more often so I've just decided to hold on to everything.

Until this summer I wasnt really concerned with retro-gaming or collecting. For my birthday however, one of my co-workers gave me a Sega Genesis (Model 1) with a Power Base Converter (an attachment which plays SMS games on Genesis) and a very nice array of complete Genesis and SMS games. It was such a nice assortment of goodies in that box that I was sucked right back into old-school gaming again.

Rather than trying to pile up games like trading cards regardless of my interest in playing them (something I have been guilty of in the past), I have really been actually playing most everything I have been adding to the shelves lately. Here are some of my observations.

1. You can still love a TERRIBLE game because of sentimental value.

Such is the case with Hard Drivin' and its sequel Race Drivin. I can't remember where I ever played this in the arcade (the Rockaway Mall or Wheels in Motion) but I recently got a copy for Genesis and it brought back some great memories. This game is one of many polygonal drving 'simulators' from the early 90s but with one awesome addition: the instant replay of every crash. The music is priceless, and once you realize the gameplay is essentially broken you'll realize it is more fun to slam your brakes at the top of the loop-dee-loop.
Look at this shit.

2. I can't believe what they got away with back then.

Today gamers are blessed with something called the internet. We can read reviews and view screens and even play demos of a game before buying it. In the 80s and early 90s we did not have this luxury.

Recently EB/Gamestop stores have begun liquidating Gameboy and Gamboy Color games, so I stocked up on quite a few, most for less than a buck each. Here's something funny I discovered. One of the screens below is from Baseball, the other is from Bases Loaded. Which is which? It doesn't matter. The gameplay is identical. Now, I could care less because I payed about fifty cents each for them, but what about the sports fan who payed twenty to thirty bucks for them back in the day? I think that would have sucked. You may ask "what do you need with more than one baseball game?" Well some people do like sports games.


Oh now I see, in one game you get the players' first names and in the other you get their last names.

Well this has been fun. More to come on this topic, hopefully very soon.