Service Will Resume Shortly

Hey there people- Quick little update. Due to a huge amount of work that has piled up on me (namely writing 3 plays!) as well as limited access to a digital camera, I'm holding off adding any new entries until April 2nd, where, with any luck, I'll be able to update the site regularly, my hope being every weekday. Wish me luck.

Please Do Not Adjust Your Browsers

Hey there folks. I'm in New York right now, re-mounting my one man show. Prep for that and the event itself has pretty much stopped any work on this project dead. Have no fear- Things should resume as soon as I get back into town (on the 19th). Thanks for your patience, half-dozen people who read this blog!

Item Number 22: Game, Super Nova (SNES)

Time in possession: About 6 years

Description: Grey Super Nintendo cartidge, good condition.

Cost: Unsure, but I couldn't have paid more then 7$ for it. So, 7$ it is.

Description: You see, now here is an entry that points out some flaws in this whole project. Really, something as generic as generic comes: This game is a generic shooter that I bought simply because I was collecting SNES games and I enjoy shooters. There's nothing spectacular about it, no story, and no real personal connection to it whatsoever. In fact, it's one of those games that I might accidentally buy twice, not really remembering that I owned a copy in the first place.

What does that say about me? That I could own so many video games (and I do own hundreds of them, over 500 at last count, and climbing) that I can no longer appreciate them? When I was young and bought my first NES, the games I had for it were absolute crap: Mission Impossible, Werewolf, Wizards and Warriors 2 and, obviously, Super Mario/Duck Hunt. When the best game for your system is the one it came with, you've got something to think about. But you know what? I loved those games. I played them over and over, despite the fact that they sucked and that I sucked at them.

Now I've got hundreds of games that sit in shelves, having been played once, tested, and then put down, possibly forever. This is my childhood dream, come true. It's certainly not as cool as I hoped it would be.

What does that say about me?

Item Number 21: Clay Blob Sculpture, Handmade

Time in possession: In excess of 7 years. That's so very depressing.

Description: Handcrafted clay sculpture, glazed blue, yellow and green. He looks pretty shocked. Part of one the right eyebrow has broken off, sadly. Maybe that's why he's shocked, who knows.

Cost: Made in a grade 9 art class, so as free as free can be. That's right, I'm not even going to assign a random cost to it, such is it's material value. ... okay .05$

Story: In junior high I used to doodle all the time, and one of the most frequent characters adorning the margins of my notebooks would be the blobs: A bunch of squishy little characters who consisted of a couple of big bulbous eyes, accompanying eyebrows and a small squishy body which usually housed simply a moth, although occasionally arms and the like would poke out as needed. My buddies Jason and Joel and I eventually started making blob versions of all our classmates and soon they were pretty much everywhere. For a quick visual reference, I've doodled out a quick blo

There you go, a standard blog, startled by a spider (I don't know why, but blobs were frequently surrounded by spiders. Probably because they are very easy to draw).

So, when I had pottery in my first year of high school with Jason and Joel, what did I do but decide to immortalize our creation in clay. I did a pretty good job, considering, although you will notice that the colour scheme is a little funky. This is because I had no idea at the time that firing the glazes would change them from their initial colours. So, the body should be blue, eyes white and pupils and eyebrows black. Oh well.

I still draw blobs from time to time, as does Joel, although I'm not sure if Jason does, having lost contact with him after high school. Still, it's nice to have this little memento of those younger days, happily drawing with friends and just having fun.

Item Number 20: Bike Helmet, Black

Time in possession: Around 9 months

Description: Black Giro bike helmet, with visor. Minor wear and tear including some small scratches and a small dent.

Cost: Something around 45$, bought at Lifesport.

Story: Last summer I decided to start riding my bike around town, my car being long since passed away and the bus service being quite insufferable. My ex-girlfriend left me her old bike and I was able to find my old bike helmet, and soon I was riding around town in what my friend Kevin lovingly referred to as the "death-mobile". The bike was a rusty piece of crap and my helmet pretty dumb looking, but it was a cheap way to get around town and I was happy.

Eventually the death-mobile got stolen, and I was left at an impasse: What should I do now? I had a couple of crappy bikes lying around that made my old ride look awesome, but I wasn't ready to put myself through that kind of torture. Should I then maybe looking into just getting a Wal-Mart special? Finally, Kevin convinced me that the way to go would be to buy a really good bike. Sure, it would cost a lot, but the difference in the riding experience would be more then worth it. So, off I went to the local sports store and found a nice bike. Riding it around convinced me of its worth and soon I was lining up to get a 500$ bike, which became my grad gift, as opposed to the digital or video camera my parents and grandma were planning on getting me.

And so, with my shiny new bike, I decided to also spring for a better helmet, as my old number was lacking in many ways. The difference here was also amazing. Much more comfort and definitely better aesthetically. Now I was flying around the city in style, making great time and getting super fit.

And then my new bike got stolen.

The opening night of my one man show at the Fringe festival was a huge success: The crowds were good, my friends enjoyed it and I was on top of the world. After a trip to the beer tent, it was suggested we all head down to a friends house to continue the party. We did, and for about another hour I was feeling as great as I possibly could. Then one of the party goers entered the house asking me where I had put my bike. My bike had been next to theirs: But it was no longer. Shit shit shit.

I went outside and saw it for myself: Where my bike had formerly been is now nothing... except for my helmet, which had been left behind (Strangely enough, my lock had not also been left). And so, it remained the only part of my grad gift left. Fortunately, we were able to replace the bike as it had been insured, and so the Brent-Mobile Mk II lives... but that's a story for another day.

Item Number 19: Game, Rocket Knight Adventures (Genesis)

Time in possession: Roundabouts 5 years

Description: Black Sega Genesis video game cartridge, fair condition. Label has significant peeling and fading. Fortunately, the kick-ass game within remains functional.

Cost: 7$ from a local pawn shop.

Story: Every kid has a friend with cool toys. I don't think I ever was that kid (which might explain why I now own so many games) but I certainly had more then a few friends who were. One of those friends was Justin.

When I was younger, I had very few games, which was exactly the opposite of my friend Justin, who would have a new game every week, something that defied logic in my head. I was certainly jealous: He possesses in abundance what I could only dream about. But he was a generous friend, and so when I would visit I would be allowed to try out his games, if not quite to the level that I might wish were the case. Still, a play of a game at Justin's house was usually enough to whet my appetite for more, and those are the memories that flooded through my mind when I, years later, discovered this copy of Rocket Knight Adventures at a pawn shop or flea market.

It's a great game. A really fun game. Probably one of the best for Sega's Genesis system, one which a childhood loyalty to Nintendo had made me particularly slow to warm to. But you know what? I think I liked it better when I was playing it for brief moments at Justin's house. Owning the game, being able to play it whenever it fancies me... It's not quite the same. Funny, that.

Item Number 18: Game, Congo's Caper (SNES)

Time in possession: Probably about 3 years

Description: Grey Super Nintendo Cartridge. Good condition. Photographed really poorly. I mean, really, looking at is is giving me a headache. I'm so sorry.

Cost: I'm going to say something like 15$. It was bought in a wholesale lot off of eBay, so that's a decent roundabout price.

Story: Collecting Super Nintendo games was, for a good couple of years in my life, a bit of an obsession. It was one activity that managed to accomplish some of my favorite activities: Re-living the glory days of my youth, owning that which had previously been denied to me and adding to an impressive collection. In the end, it never really amounted to much, but the thrill of the chase, searching down an elusive game, that was definitely a different kind of high, something that made the occasionally frustrating and fruitless pursuit a little more enjoyable.

Congo's Caper here was one of the many games that I had read about in my childhood subscription to Nintendo Power, the pages of every issue quickly read and re-read dozens of times until they were reduced to mere tatters. As such, there was a romanticized idea of the game in my head with very little basis in reality, as sadly was not uncommon, as was evidenced with one of my previous entries, Robotrek. Perhaps it was because I was at least 20 when I got my hands on a copy, and when I was dying to play it at 12 my laundry list of video game ideals would have been quite a bit different.

Still, it's a handy game to have around, if only to toss at a little cousin or nephew when they grow tired of play Super Mario World.