Come out and Plaaaayyyyyyyy!

One of my favorite movies of all time is the Warriors (http://www.warriorsmovie.co.uk/). I first saw this movie on a third hand recopy of the original Beta version when I was 12 or so. At that time, I lived in the midwest and my only exposure to "The Big City" was an occasional trip into St. Louis to see the Cardinals play or take a ride up into the Gateway Arch (an entire blog entry in itself). I had never seen NYC except for movies and SNL, but I was hooked once I saw this movie. Remebmer, this was the late 70's, Kiss was the "Hottest band in the land", Kristy McNichol starred in Foxes, Dungeons and Dragons was considered an "underground" game and the Son of Sam was still on many peoples' minds. The Warriors captured everything that made NYC strange and exciting and enticing. It had gangs, girls, the NYC subway and guys in facepaint and roller skates. I must have watched that tape more than any other movie, including Behind the Green Door (yet another blog topic worth its weight in gold ). I was particularly enthralled with the Subway system. That below a city of so many people there was an underground world, dirty, dark, with things unknown lurking in the shadows always caught my interest. Rumors of mole people and C.H.U.D. and sewer alligators made the NYC subway system the one of the most intriguing places in the world to me. As the 70's became the 80's The Warriors kept lurking just behind the mainstream, much like those lost souls that I imagined living in the abandoned Subway system tunnels. A midnight showing at the local theatre where Rocky Horror Usually played, a reference on Twisted Sister's fourth album (you know, those 12" vynal disks that we used to listen to) and of course, reviewings on a bootleg VHS tape transferred from the original Beta. My favorite character in The Warriors, Luther, was played by David Patrick Kelly. He was the one who came up with the original idea of the "Warriors, come out and play" Mantra, including the clanking bottles. Kelly has appeared in many movies, including the original Crow, as T-Bird, leader of the gang that killed Brandon Lee's character. Check out http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0446314/ for a full list of the movies in which Kelly has appeared.

About three years ago, I moved to NYC to work and be with my girlfriend. I can remember the first time that I rode the subway. I just hopped on (my girl at work), new to the city and rode. Then I located the Subway Museum in Grand Central and found out that up until 9-11 you could actually take a tour of abandoned subway lines and tunnels. Imagine, being able walk on a guided tour through areas that had not been seen by the general public in ages. This was an adventure straight out of the fantasies of my youth. An adventure that would rant high on the To-do list for any red-blooded, D&D playing, RPG video game loving guy. (The first of course being overtaken by buxom twins who just happen to live next door and find themselves in need of a plumber, right in the middle of a failed shower, but I digress).

If things like this interest you (subways and the warriors, not the twins thing), check out the book by Jennifer Toth, "The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City" (http://www.amazon.com/Mole-People-Life-Tunnels-Beneath/dp/155652241X/sr=8-1/qid=1168479355/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-6307262-2887230?ie=UTF8&s=books). Though much of the book is gleened from dubious sources and events, this book will re-ignite yoru interst in all thngs dark, dank and subterraenian. There are also several good movies on the subject, including "In Search of the Mole People" (http://www.amazon.com/Search-Mole-People-Kenny-Chery/dp/B000050933/sr=8-3/qid=1168479574/ref=pd_bbs_3/002-6307262-2887230?ie=UTF8&s=video) and "Dark Days" (http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Days/dp/B00005NSY6/ref=pd_bxgy_v_img_b/002-6307262-2887230). Also, Check out this website on abandoned subway stations in NYC, for a more historical and less theatrical look at NYC's underground rail systems. It has some pretty cool pics. (http://www.nycsubway.org/abandsta.html).

And finally, while visiting Coney Island (home to the fictitional Warriors), I came across the mural below. Can you dig it?

 

Posted by Waterborn @ 8:14 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

And now for something completely different

A Game Rant . . . .

Is it just me, or is Oblivion just a little too much open ended and beautifully large? At first, I was like everyone else, enamored with the wide open world and multiple main (and inumerable side) quest lines. Running around the pixelated universerse picking up ninroot and looking under every rock and behind every tree for the perfect ingredient to make a potion. I'd run back to my house to store this or that, then off to the mages guild to learn spells and steal things (cause you know I was also working the Thieves guild angle), all while on my way to my next big hit (literally as an up and comer in the Dark Brotherhood).

Then one day, while reaching for the Oblivion disk to put it in for a quick run around, I realized, that there is no such thing as a quick session of Oblivion. The game by its very nature requires a substantial investment in time just to sit down. I found myself multi-tasking and looking at my Quest to-do list and having to make shopping (spell ingredient) lists and . . . . . . . . All of a sudden, things were way to close to my "real life". Then the kicker, I looked at my time spent in the game (98+ hrs at that point) and began to caculate what I could have done with that time, including sleep (which I have somehow given up by that time), hang out with my girlfriend and/or dogs, get a part-time job. The game had become a job in itself. This little reality check resulted in me selling the game and moving on to Gears of War and Rainbow Six Vegas and about a dozen other games that I had barely touched up to that point. Games that I could put in and get some quick multi-player in without having to undergo sleep deprivation. Now my lack of sleep is due to excitement about the game, not a result of an overbooked date planner in an artificial world.

So I have decided, RPGs are fine, as long as I don't have to go all World of Warcraft meets South Park running all over multiple island chains just to pick up some errant weeds to make a potion or cure my virpyrism (still don't know how I got that one). As long as I don't have to disapear into Oblivion to escape for a few moments.

And in case anyone needs to see what I was missing, here is a picture of my girl and my dogs, relaxing in the sun in P-town, Mass. Now I ask you, what is more enticiing, hanging out with these three, or chasing some errant painter though a mystical canvas, dodging paint trolls searching for the Magical Paint Brush? Oblivion Indeed!

 

Posted by Waterborn @ 12:34 am EDT | Permalink | 6 Comments

Sticking with the Theme . . . .

So to keep the theme going (that is of me posting water related clips), I give you the meanest, ugliest wave ever ridden by man or beast - THE WEDGE. Those with weak stomachs, recent pregnancies or fear of breaking your neck may wish to look away.

 

Posted by Waterborn @ 8:11 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

Another First for yours truly

All right folks, after much cussing and gnashing of teeth (and the subsequent departure of my girlfriend to bed), I have my debut online video. This is the FIRST personal video I have ever posted to the web. This is obviously some milestone of existence as I approach 40 this year. Imagine what I will acccomplish in my 80th year on this planet! The thought is mind boggling. But then again, the act of posting a single, 49 second video to the world wide web has taken me most of the night, so go figure.

And without further adieu, Waterborn in his element:

Posted by Waterborn @ 12:17 am EDT | Permalink | 6 Comments

First Video Test

OK, with Faelorn's help, I have been working on figuring out how to post videos to this blog. Here is my first test, a kayaking video from youtube.

 

 

Posted by Waterborn @ 11:11 pm EDT | Permalink | 4 Comments