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Ten Treasures

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

A few times on this blog, I’ve referred to my ‘boxes of fun’ (BoF’s). These are plastic storage containers hidden away in cupboards containing stuff I have collected over the years. The name is a misnomer, since these boxes give me no fun at all. In fact they are ‘out of sight, out of mind’ as they say.

Yesterday I emptied one out for the fun of it. This particular box contains Star Wars ‘stuff’, accumulated over about the last 15 years. Here’s a photo of the box immediately after I removed the cover:

Stuffed in there, isn’t it? Most of my boxes contain Star Wars stuff – in fact about half of them contain just action figures. But this one is unique in that it contains a motley collection of toys, licensed merchandise and advertising ephemera. Basically anything remotely Star Wars related went in here, whenever I bought it, and did not see the light of day again until yesterday.

Today on the blog I present ten treasured items I found yesterday in my box of fun 🙂

1. Han Solo & Chewbacca ‘cake topper’

KLS purchased the above many years ago in the clearance bin at our local grocery store. It’s not edible (!), but is designed to be an ornament on a SW themed cake. I also have another pair (Anakin & Watto). As far as SW ‘action figures’ go, this is one of my most unusual. [Approximate Ebay value: $6]

2. Star Wars Bowl

This is one of a set of 4 items (2 bowls, 2 cups), all of which I own. This was part of a General Mill’s mail-in redemption for Episode 2, and as far as melamine SW bowls are concerned is the cream of the crop. And I say this with some expertise, since our cupboards at home contain about 5 SW-themed bowls and plates already. The guy pictured here (and his friends) have never been used though, and will forever live out their lives in the BoF. I particularly like this one, since the image of Padme used on it is uncommon, and I’ve not seen it used on merchandise before. [Ebay value for set of 4: $40]

3. Episode 1 ‘pogs’

Around the time Episode 1 was released, Pepsico restaurants (namely Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut) in the US had a incredible amount of promotions, including toys, ‘cup-toppers’ and these little pogs that came randomly in kids meals. As you can see, in an effort to collect the toys I accumulated a lot of the pogs! These are in perfect condition, stored in a little plastic container. I reckon there is about 50 or so here, and I know I have more elsewhere. In fact it’s even possible the ones shown here are my doubles, and I have a full set tucked away in another BoF. [Approximate Ebay value: $5-20+]

4. McDonalds ‘Clone Wars’ kids meal box

The less said of the above item the better. Yes it’s a mint-condition kids meal box, folded flat for storage. It’s from 2010. I’m lovin’ it! [Approximate Ebay value: $3]

5. R2-D2 Gigapet

Yes, this is an R2-D2 ‘tamagotchi’ type toy. As you can see I have never opened it, so I can’t comment on how it works. I can also confirm that I never will open it, so I will never comment on how it works. But it keeps my heart warm knowing it’s just sitting there in my BoF! [Ebay value: $10]

6. Japanese General Grievous Pepsi bottle cap figure

Over in Japan, they occasionally promote bottles of drink via cap toppers like the one seen here. They are little figurines that sit on top of the cap of the drink. Sometimes you can see them just sitting there in the cooler, sometimes (as in the above) they come in a bag and have to be put on. During our last Japan trip this promotion was ending, and I was only able to find one figure. [Ebay value: $3]

7. Japanese mini Episode 1 action figures

These were from a gatchapon machine. If I recall correctly, they were found at an unlikely place – a machine on a walkway leading from one train station to another near Shibuya in Tokyo. I didn’t have a lot of Y100 coins with me at the time, and could only get two from the machine. My other one is Anakin & Watto (yes, the same pair as my other cake topper!). This is a very cool item, and the figured are surprisingly detailed for their miniature size. [Approximate ebay value: $6]

8. Lenticular Anakin/Darth Vader plate

Another promotional item; this was obtained by mailing in tokens from cereal boxes around the release of Episode 3. The plate is dreadful – weak plastic with a lenticular glued onto the front. I daresay it’s barely washable! But, as with all these treasures, I love it like a child and it’s not ever for sale! It shall rest eternally, happily, in the BoF. Sealed in it’s plastic 😉 [Ebay value: $15]

9. Episode 1 wall stickers

A quick search for this item online revealed that the company released a staggering variety of Episode 1 themed wall adhesives! This podrace collection is a relatively recent aquisition, purchased as it was from the budget bin of a dollar store only a year or so ago. It’s yellowing and aged and cursed to an existence of never ever being stuck on a wall. But I love it because it’s flat and easy to store! I seem to recall I actually purchased two of these, so I deeply apologize to whomever got the other one is probably quite happy with their gift! [Ebay value: $3]

10. Frito-Lay Episode II 3D puzzle pieces

These are real treasures. They are 3D puzzle pieces that were notoriously hard to obtain back when Episode 2 came out. Although a Frito-Lay promotional item, they were only available at retail by purchasing a massive box of snack sized chip packs. Even then the promotional boxes were few and far between, so I was only able to get 2 pieces. Some searching online reveals there were at least 54 (!) different pieces (in 6 colours), and they were sometimes distributed in sets of nine. I wonder how one got a set? Anyway I love them for a specific reason – they are actually lithopanes! Here’s a photo showing the nice effect then they are held up to a light:

Very effective aren’t they? I wish I could have gotten more now. Maybe I’ll try harder next time I’m in 2002. [Ebay value: $10]

Before I end, one last photo. The box contained oodles of stuff (you can see other items in the backgrounds of some of the above photos) but perhaps the most nostalgic were these:

Pictured are my ticket stubs for (one of the many times I saw) Phantom Menace, Attack Of The Clones and the cinematic rerelease of Star Wars back in 1997 ($4.50 for a matinee!!). Note that there are three tickets for Attack Of The Clones on the same day. That’s because I saw the midnight screening myself, and then later in the day went back with KLS 😉

Posted in Family, Miscellaneous, Movies, Otaku, Tech, Time, Toys | 4 Comments »

Sound Interface Devices

Sunday, July 29th, 2012

Before I start, open this in another window and listen to it while reading.

That’s a piece of commodore 64 game music being played by the SID chip, which was the sound processor inside the C64. This particular tune was composed by one of the maestro’s of the SID, Ben Daglish.

Wizball was a another classic Commodore 64 game. In my opinion, maybe the best I ever played. It had great graphics, great gameplay and famous music. Listen to it here, and marvel that Martin Galway managed to coax that tune from a (now) 30 year old 3 channel sound chip! Apparently he based it on the work of Jean-Michel Jarre, but it just sounds like Kraftwerk to me. I was in my early teens when I played these games. I can recall for a long time having the C64 in my bedroom, and I’d often load up games (including Wizball) and leave them in the attract mode while I did other stuff. Cauldron 2 was another example (and another great theme), I’d be plotting my path via a map while listening to the songs. And Sanxion was another. In an interview I recently read with the composer of the Sanxion theme, he said that at the time he looked at his tunes and disposable. Not so Mr Hubbard, you and your ilk created an entire genre of music that persists today!

Game music is a funny thing. Much like songs by our favourite artists, the music of the games we play stick with us as well, and can trigger powerful memories. This post was originally going to be about SID music exclusively, but after starting I found myself thinking about – and then listening to – beloved music from a lifetime of gaming. Such nostalgia!

In 198X I used to wait on Hunter Street, for the bus, in front of an old arcade. This would not have been coincidence – likely the money for the bus was the only cents I had left after spending everything else in that very arcade. I even sometimes skipped food and drink for a few extra games. At the time of this memory, the arcade prominently featured Gauntlet II at the entrance, speaker turned up to 11. To this day, the theme tune evokes powerful memories of my youth.

Many of these games are almost lost to us now. I can’t easily play Wizball or Gauntlet II anymore. But the music lives on, and I suspect will live on longer than the games ever can. Some of the tunes have already become immortal, such as this one or this one. They were both composed by the same person: Koji Kondo. Games containing his work have been played by hundreds of millions of players, and his signature themes have become as important to the series they were created for (Mario and Zelda) that they have survived and evolved through 30 years of sequels.

18 years ago, when I reviewed Final Fantasy VI for SNES in my fanzine, with regards to the sound I said: “This game exceeds in every possible way!”

Even then I may have occasionally exaggerated, but with regards to this comment I can look back and say I was indeed correct. Final Fantasy VI was a masterpiece of game design, with incredible graphics, gameplay and innovative and complex game systems. That it has barely been equalled – much less surpassed – by the 7 games in the series since 1994 is testament to just how great it is. But what is perhaps most remarkable is that the best feature of the game is the story, and specifically the way the story is intertwined with the soundtrack.

Composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the music in Final Fantasy VI was not digitized, and all created by the sound chip in the SNES. Although only about 10 years had passed since the heydays of the SID chip and C64 music, you’d never tell by listening to what Uematsu managed to achieve from the SNES. Take this example, Terra’s Theme, which isprobably my favourite game music of all time (and yes, this is played by a SNES):

The game was loaded with impressive music, and many fans (including myself) would just pause the game to enjoy the music by itself. A pivotal and very emotional scene in the game was played out via an opera scene with modulated simulated voices. This signature scene (shown in full in the video below) is one of the most inventive and successful ‘cutscenes’ in game history – all realized with 16 bit animations and chip music from an SNES. Even watching it now it brings back powerful memories of the entire game. Because of how much I grew to love the music in this game, Final Fantasy VI was the first game soundtrack that I ever bought.

These days virtually all our music comes from computers. Since the technical limitations are gone, there is no longer a distinction between ‘game music’ and ‘real music’. Where once the composers had to create not only beautiful tunes, but also cram them into impossibly small amounts of memory or sound channels, now they can utilize complete orchestras and record as much music as their budget allows. And yet far too often game music is still seems to be an afterthought (especially the worst offending games, which just license charts hits and play them in the background). But the best games are often as good as they are not just because of gameplay or graphics, but because of music as well. I’m sure that 18 years from now the music of the games I remember playing at age 40 will still be strong in my memory.

Posted in Art, Family, Games, Music, Tech, Time | Comments Closed

My Mum The Nun (part one)

Thursday, July 12th, 2012

My mum was a nun!

This is a story I’ve occasionally bandied about, and it’s high time I provided some sort of proof to back it up. After all, there’s no small amount of stature associated with being a Nun’s son, so I better be telling the truth 🙂

So here we go…

Look at her! That was taken on June 9, 1961, when mum was all of 16 years old. On the morning of this day she rode a train with her parents from Broadmeadow (not far from where she lives now) to Singleton, where the convent was, to join The Sisters Of Mercy. She was welcomed by a Nun that was once her schoolteacher. On that day mum shed her worldly name and became a postulant of the order. She would now be called Sister Mary Margaret.

What was life like as a postulant? Mum’s memories sound mostly positive, but to me the life seems tough. Lots of prayer, meditation and work (cleaning, gardening, washing). Each day was regimented and the various tasks occurred at specific times (controlled by a bell) and discipline and silence were both enforced. She recalls the days were long and tiring, but the time passed quickly and she was happy.

Six months have passed, and mum had now completed the postulancy period and was officially admitted into the order in December 1961. Here Sister Mary Salvio (mum had a new name by now) shows off her ‘Bride of Christ’ dress, which was on loan from a cousin. Mum’s comments on this picture recall that the nun’s had ‘vandalized’ it since it was too immodest initially 🙂

The above is a shot of Veronica and Reginald Sheeley (my grandparents) with their 17 year old daughter Sister Mary Salvio. I particularly like this photo. I’ll follow this with another shot taken on the same day (I assume):

The above shot (in colour!) shows Sister Mary Salvio (aka. ‘mum’!) with a friend of hers, Sister Marie Madeline. You can see the difference between the garments mum is wearing here and those of her postulancy, notably the veil over the Wimple. I don’t know why her friend has a black veil compared to mum’s white, but I assume it’s a sign of seniority. (Some quick research online seems to suggest Sisters Of Mercy always wore black veils, so again I don’t know why mum’s is white).

“The cake?” you ask? I don’t know! I do love how they displayed it on that beautifully crocheted tablecloth on that richly varnished table. I’m guessing the event was something special 🙂

Fast forward a few years for the above shot. It’s now 1963, and mum is 19 and now a junior professed sister (and now, mysteriously, wears a black veil). The new title means she’s taken temporary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, which will last for two years until her final vows would be taken in 1965. At this point mum qualified to become a teacher, which is important since the Sisters of Mercy order is known (worldwide) for opening and running schools. Mum would receive some training, and then start working at a primary school.

These photos cover a scant 2.5 years, but I can only imagine how important they were to mum as a young girl. She’s provided me with snippets of memories, but the questions that remain unanswered are uncountable. Chief among them would be: “Why does a 16-year-old girl enter the convent?”, or more specifically “Why did *you* enter the convent?”

Mum suggested to me that during my next visit I interview her for the answers, and I think this is a good idea. So some time in the future you can expect an update. But in the short term there will be a few more photos, as well as some more memories, of mum’s days as a nun-teacher, and her eventual departure from the convent. Stay tuned!

Posted in Family | 3 Comments »

Krull

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

I was 11 in 1983. At that age my mania for SF and Fantasy had long since developed and was strengthening day by day. This was constantly being fed by all manner of media, including books, games and television. But for a boy of that age, in that era, nothing seemed as important as motion pictures.

Everything was of course compared to Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. In the summer of 1983 a strange madness would have overcome me for months on end, since Return Of The Jedi was soon to be released and would be, undoubtedly, the most important movie ever. I’m not sure how I was able to sleep at night!

In waiting we occupy ourselves as best we can, so the years between Star Wars films had to be filled with other movies. The Dark Crystal had been one such film; Raiders Of The Lost Ark another and naturally I had absolutely loved both. My sci-fi/fantasy fandom was such that even ‘lesser’ files like Conan The Barbarian or unquestionable trash like Metalstorm: The Destruction Of Jared Sin were anticipated by young me with fervour. But from the moment I first saw the preview trailer one film jumped to the top of my ‘I can’t wait’ list, and made me positively giddy with anticipation.

That film was Krull.

Something about this film hit a chord with me. It had lasers and spaceships but also monsters and magic! The hero wielded a crazy weapon and even the name of the film was powerful and mysterious! How could it not be amazing? I wanted to see it so badly, and in the months before it would be released I was always looking for information! As an 11-year old in Australia in 1983 though, my options were decidedly limited.

One day I went into a bookstore and discovered that my then-favourite author – Alan Dean Foster – had written a Krull novelization! I bought it (which means begged dad to buy it for me) and read it cover to cover immediately (spoilers be damned!). Oh, and it had pictures from the movie! I was in heaven.

I recall being particularly enamoured of the ‘Glaive’ weapon. I expect this was also during my ‘ninja star’ period, and the only thing better to an 11-year old mind than a shuriken would of course be a bigger shuriken with spring loaded blades! I made one out of cardboard – I remember this very clearly – by cutting up a cereal box and gluing aluminium foil to the ends for the blades. It would have no doubt been a piece of garbage, but I bet I loved it.

Marvel put out a comic adaptation of the movie. I couldn’t afford comics at that age – I expect my allowance was only about $2 per week or thereabouts (although we used to occasionally be able to buy books, most of which in my case were gamebooks or movie novelizations by my then-favourite author). But even though I didn’t buy the comic, I remember looking through one issue in the newsagent (I did this a lot) and completely spoiling a large section of the story. That I had of course already spoiled via the novel 🙂

The newsagent was a popular lurk of mine then. I used to save up and buy the game magazines from England, as well as the occasional issue of Smash Hits, but would just hang out in the newsagent (particularly the ones at Charlestown Square or Garden City) and read the Sci-Fi movie magazines from America. It was a bittersweet experience for a young fantasy-obsessed lad, since many of the (incredible looking to an 11 year old) featured movies would never see an Australian release. For those that did, these magazine articles were fuel for my burning anticipation!

Eventually, after months of waiting, the movie came out in Australia in late 1983. I would have seen it with my brother and my dad, being too young to see a film unsupervised. Looking back on it now, I bet dad was bemused. I absolutely loved it!

During the opening credits, the glaive flies across the screen and reveals the logo. As a child I would have found this to be unspeakably awesome, since I had ‘a thing’ for logos (I used to spend hours drawing them). The combination of an awesome weapon with an awesome logo! It was like they had a direct feed into my dreams!

So the film had been seen and had been loved. It was everything I had hoped for! I expect I read the novel again, probably through around my crappy homemade glaive, and even quoted the film in the playground: “Short in stature, tall in power, narrow of purpose and wide of vision!” For a brief period, Krull was the best movie ever made!

A scant few weeks later (48 days, to be precise) things would change, since Return Of The Jedi was released and my life (as a fan!) would rise to a new level.

The flame of Krull had burned only briefly in my heart, but it had burned brightly indeed!

Last week I purchased the Krull DVD (for only $5) and we watched it again. This was KLS’s first time ever seeing the film, and my first time in almost 30 (thirty!) years. And I have to be honest: it holds up quite well.

A titanic flop when it was released, due mostly to a bloated budget, the film has surprisingly good special effects that still hold up today. Furthermore, the massive and impressive set design has barely been equalled, and the abstract interiors of the ‘Black Fortress’ are alien enough to not suffer from the sort of dated design common to many films from those days. Yes the story is weak, the villain has an anticlimatic ending and (let’s face it) the glaive weapon is criminally underused. But, most importantly, the film is still fun.

I’m in no way surprised that I had such an enthusiasm for this film back when I was a little sprout, and honestly look back on those days with an uncommon (for me) sweet nostalgia.

Posted in Books & Comics, Family, Movies, Otaku, Time, Toys | 2 Comments »

Work Hard

Monday, June 25th, 2012

For the first time, I accepted a summer teaching position. It was bound to happen eventually, since they ask me every year!

So instead of lazing around playing video games for the next month with a cat in my lap, I’ll be teaching every weekday for 2 hours and 20 minutes. I expect the workload to be fairly high.

Emi is particularly unhappy, since she’s the one that will miss out on her favourite lap to sleep in 🙂

Right now, on the very eve (first lecture is in an hour), I wonder what came over me when I accepted this position 🙂

Posted in Family, Pets | Comments Closed