I am a dork (Proof Below)

The internet is a blessing and a curse. Mostly, I use it to check baseball scores and watch soccer highlights (blessing). However, once all the baseball boxscores have been digested, and I'm up to date on where Joe Cole will be playing his football next year (good luck you scouse bastard!), I tend to turn my internet searches into witch hunts for 1980's video game emulators and reviews on these games (curse!).

If the internet could be sponsored by a decade, it would be the 1980's. I was reading in a very important internet journal the other day that said 4 out of every 5 movie quotes found on the internet come from 1980's screwball comedies. So, it's not hard to fall down that rabbit hole of 80's extravagance by reading one of about a jillion websites that deal with it. Or in the case of video games, it's easy to get stuck in an 8 bit glory hole. Hmm...has to be a better way to say that. Screw it. It's a blog, not the New York Times.

So, in my travels, I have come across many items/personalities that make me feel inadequate in my 1980's dorkyness, which is an odd feeling. I mean, on the one hand, it's a relief to know that I'm really just a lower case "d" dork when it comes to this stuff, and I'm not destined for a life of hanging out at 1980's themed comic-cons and radio swap meets. On the other hand, what self-respecting dork wants to be outdorked? (Looking Around...) You're damn right: nobody. Conflicted. So very conflicted.

Here are a few examples:

• Someone STILL Owns Their 1981 Sears Super Video Arcade, and has taken a picture of it. Our family owned this. It played Intellivsion games. I learned how to gamble thanks to the game this console came with. It was titled: "Las Vegas Poker and Blackjack". I was 6. Moving on...

(HOLY SHIT! I want this thing back in my arms, so I can play Space Spartans)

• The AVGN. Mostly, this guy makes me feel better about some of the crappy games I used to own. I used to think it was my fault I couldn't figure out what the fuck Milon's Secret Castle was all about.

• The NES ModNation. So many great examples out there of guys and gals that have "repurposed" the classic Nintendo Enternainment System. Here are two of the very best:

It's called a Nintoaster. This one brilliant guy crammed the guts of an NES into a toaster chassis. When you push the lever down, the game turns on. He has an instructional video on his site on how to do it yourself: www.stupidfingers.com. Pure. Dorky. Genius.

And finally:It's a mouse inspired by the classic Nintendo controller. Bravo!