The Smarmy Carny

In my mind, the Atari 2600 is the best video game console of all time. You either had a joystick or a paddle — both of which had just one button. Modern day consoles have nothing on the Atari 2600 with their 80-button, vibrating controllers and frequent crashes. The Atari 2600 blows these out of the water with its 128 bytes of RAM and 1.19 MHz processing speed.

• Basketball: D- I know that the graphics weren't top-notch on the Atari 2600, and that's fine. But playing basketball with a square ball? Something's just not right with that.
• Combat: B It came with the console, so everyone had it and knew how to play it. Somehow, they managed to turn two games (tanks and planes) into 27 games — really just different options on the two themes. For such a basic game, though, getting those tanks to move and shoot the way you needed them to really became an art.
• Missile Command: C- In retrospect, I probably played Missile Command far more than I should have. This game, though entertaining, quickly becomes repetitive. Gee, I wonder what the next level will bring me — perhaps more missiles I'll have to shoot down in the same manner? You basically played until the game outplayed you.
• Pac-Man: A- Pac-Man was the game. Easy to understand but difficult to master, I don't know a kid who was yelling at their television because of this yellow dude.
• Pitfall!: B+ I don't know how many times poor Pitfall Harry fell down holes or got eaten by a crocodile, but this game was addictive. The game used a combination of timing skills and just a bit of strategy that made you want to come back for more.
• Space Invaders: A+ Simple, easy, and perfectly designed for the platform. You have shields, you have bad guys. They inch closer, and you try and pick them off. And just when that might have started to get boring, you've got a UFO to aim at! It even spawned quite a few 80s song, which actually might not have been a good thing.

Please feel free to leave a comment. What do you agree or disagree with, and why? Which Atari 2600 games do you wish were included that I didn't cover here?

Another program that One Economy Corporation uses to reach low-income communities is Digital Connectors.

Digital Connectors are young people, ages 14 to 21, who accelerate the use of technology in a region by providing training and support to members of their communities. Usually the program runs for up to eight weeks during summer vacation, though some programs vary from this schedule.

Since younger people have grown up around much more technology than the older generations, these young people are an obvious method for pushing technology awareness and education out. 150 Digital Connectors in 10 cities provided technology training and support to more than 3,000 families with an emphasis on basic computer and Internet use and guided instruction on the Beehive.

Digital Connectors are rewarded with stipends or personal computers in exchange for their services to their community.

Blogathon 2007

Starting Saturday, July 28, 2007, hundreds of blogs across the world will unite and blog continuously for 24 hours to help support various charities.

Blogathon is an annual event where bloggers choose a charity (a 501(c)(3) organization) to support. Each blogger must post something every 30 minutes for the entire 24-hour period beginning on July 29, 2006, at 9:00 AM EST. In turn, anyone can sponsor a blog that is participating. A sponsorship is basically a pledge to donate money to that blog's charity. You know your money is safe because any money you pledge is given directly to the charity itself, not to the blogger or the Blogathon website.

The Smarmy Carny is participating in Blogathon for the second year. This time around, this blog will support a charity called One Economy Corporation. One Economy is a charity that helps close the technology gap for lower-income people. Their Bring IT Home campaign brought broadband internet access to 200,000 low-income people. They also run The Beehive, a website aimed at low-income families and individuals. To find out more about One Economy Corporation, head over to The Smarmy Carny's Blogathon page. Also be sure to read the blog during the Blogathon and find out much more detailed information on One Economy's efforts!

Want to learn more about how to sponsor this blog and what The Smarmy Carny has planned during the Blogathon? Check out the Blogathon page on this site. Interesting in participating in Blogathon as a blogger? Check out the official Blogathon website.

Springfield, Vermont has been announced the Simpsons' home state in a vote organized by USA Today. It will host the official premiere for The Simpsons Movie on July 21.

The Simpsons' mystery home state has long been a running gag in the series. For instance, Marge once gave their address over the phone as "742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, Oh-hiya Maude, come on in!," leading the audience to falsely believe that Ohio was about to be named the home state.

According to some research posted on The Simpsons Archive, there are 71 Springfields in 36 states. Each of the following 14 Springfields submitted a video promoting their own Springfield as the home to The Simpsons:

• Springfield, Colorado
• Springfield, Florida
• Springfield, Illinois
• Springfield, Kentucky
• Springfield, Louisiana
• Springfield, Massachusetts
• Springfield, Michigan
• Springfield, Missouri
• Springfield, Nebraska
• Springfield, New Jersey
• Springfield, Ohio
• Springfield, Oregon
• Springfield, Tennessee
• Springfield, Vermont

See the promotional videos from each of these Springfields at USA Today. The other towns will be rewarded with screenings of The Simpsons Movie the night before the movie opens nationwide.

While I was waiting for Blades of Glory to start in the theatre, three of the trailers were for "third" sequel movies:

• Shrek the Third
• Spider-Man 3
• Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End

Is the day of the lousy "second sequel" over? All three of these movies promise to be big hits this year.

Back in the day, even The Godfather couldn't put out a decent third movie. 2007 seems to have something different in store!

Today, March 22, is Captain James T. Kirk's birthday. He will be born on this day in the year 2233.

Roddenberry suggested in a book that Kirk was born in Iowa. In 1985, the town of Riverside, Iowa referring to the town as Kirk's birthplace. They later contacted Roddenberry and got official permission.

Of course, the town has an annual Star Trek/Kirk birthday celebration where you can buy "Kirk Dirt" and see their Enterprise-esque U.S.S. Riverside sitting in the town square.

(Fans of SpikeTV's Invasion Iowa will recognize this town. They got pranked on the show when Shatner and others pretended to be filming a movie in their town.)

I suggest, however, that they change their name from Riverside to Geekville.

American Idol 6 is premiering on Tuesday, January 16, so naturally this Sunday's Site is Idle Idols, the web's home of the funniest American Idol auditions.

Idle Idols doesn't care about the winners and good singers. Idle Idols cares only about the William Hungs of this world. I know it and you know it: American Idol's entertainment value is derived primarily from the wacky, crazy, and lame auditions and the reactions this gets from the judges.

Idle Idols will attempt to blog each of the entertaining auditions throughout American Idol 6 and future seasons. For a trip down memory lane, you can also read through American Idol 5 audition notes that are posted there now. Rumor has it that previous seasons will also start to appear after the American Idol 6 auditions are over.

One of the highlights of Idle Idols are the Idle Interviews it gets from American Idol contestants. Thus far, it has already posted interviews from American Idol 4 reject and psychodiva Mary Roach as well as American Idol 5 rejects "Crazy Dave" Hoover, screamo boy Ryan Hart, and "Everybody Dance Now" Laurence Soares.

Idle Idols describes itself as such:

Idle Idols celebrates the phenomenon of breathtaking American Idol auditions — and not in the good way. When we say "breathtaking," we're thinking less of "exciting and thrilling" and more along the lines of "astonishing" or "I'm out of breath because I just ran four miles away from that horrid act."

Kelly? Reuben? Clay? Taylor? Never heard of 'em.

This is the world where William Hung is king. Other celebrities include Mary Roach and "Crazy" Dave Hoover. These contestants taught us that quality singing isn't nearly as entertaining as a good show. Bad singers, outrageous outfits, and your everyday, run of the mill psychopaths . . . that's entertainment!

http://idleidols.com/

Idle Idols is a sister site of The Smarmy Carny. Enjoy!