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19 Apr, 2021
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Category: Conventional Thinking

Adventures on the convention circuit. I’ve attended both video gaming and sci-fi/fantasy conventions as a guy who bought a ticket, a guy with stuff to sell, and finally and most dauntingly, a guy who speaks in public even though he’s mildly terrified to do so. These are those stories.

Fatherhood, Fandom, Fading Out, and a Book Update

16 May 201616 May 2016 Earl

Surprise! New book! And probably (with apologies to Steven Moffat) not the one you’re expecting. Fatherhood, Fandom, and Fading Out is a book of essays, largely culled from this very blawg as well as from […]

Leave a commentConventional Thinking, Write, Write, You Bloody Well Write

Con Season Wrap-Up 2014

15 September 201415 September 2014 Earl

Saturday night was the Tulsa Doctor Who Mini-Con, and during the same weekend Konsplosion was happening in Fort Smith (I only did a solitary panel on Sunday afternoon). Once again, in one weekend, I did […]

Leave a commentConventional ThinkingDoctor Who, Konsplosion

Do you even know how to vend?

19 August 201417 August 2014 Earl

This year, in the Facebook groups for two local conventions that I support and attend, there were little blow-ups at the last minute that got under my skin a bit. In one case, an attendee […]

Leave a commentConventional Thinking

OVGE 2014 Post-Game Roundup

10 August 201410 August 2014 Earl

The 11th annual Oklahoma Video Game Exhibition (OVGE) has come and gone, and as has been the case since the first year of the show, I was there with goodies from my game collection for […]

Leave a commentConventional Thinking, Gadgetology, GamingOklahoma Video Game Exhibition (OVGE), Phosphor Dot Fossils DVDs, Video Games, Vworp!

OVGE Pre-Flight Checks

7 August 2014 Earl

Power UP! Today was a day of dusting, battery compartment cleaning, screen-cleaning and general getting-ready for this weekend’s OVGE event in Broken Arrow. Everything, even my finicky Coleco Donkey Kong Jr. tabletop, is ready for […]

Leave a commentConventional Thinking, GamingOklahoma Video Game Exhibition (OVGE)

Coming to OVGE 2014: PDF Unplugged!

4 August 20144 August 2014 Earl

That’s right, I’m going to just sit by the doorway and play video game music on my guitar, and you throw quarters into an upturned hat! Well, okay, so maybe not. Here’s what PDF Unplugged […]

Leave a commentConventional Thinking, GamingOklahoma Video Game Exhibition (OVGE), Video Games, Vworp!

GlitchCon is THIS WEEKEND!

28 July 201428 July 2014 Earl

GlitchCon is this weekend! August 1st through 3rd at the Springdale Holiday Inn. A few notes ahead of the show… Death panels! Well, okay, not really. I’m doing two panels Saturday night: at 7pm in […]

Leave a commentConventional Thinking, Write, Write, You Bloody Well WriteGlitchCon, Vworp!

GlitchCon 2014 panel schedule

14 July 201414 July 2014 Earl

The whole schedule can be seen here, and it’s full of events that are smothered in awesomesauce and seasoned with a liberal sprinkling of amazeballs. For those curious, I thought I’d “zoom in” briefly on […]

Leave a commentConventional Thinking, Write, Write, You Bloody Well WriteGlitchCon, Phosphor Dot Fossils DVDs, Video Games, Vworp!

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You’re who, again?

I'm just your typical compulsively-writing, sci-fi-and-science-obsessed, classic-video-game-playing, action-figure-collecting dad.


That's me in red with the smooth round head.

I run theLogBook.com and host its daily Escape Pod podcast and the monthly podcasts Select Game and Don't Give This Tape To Earl. I've written several books (WARP!1, VWORP!1, VWORP!2, Fatherhood, Fandom And Fading Out, and The Escape Pod Logs), and produced the Phosphor Dot Fossils video game documentaries. Follow me on Twitter @LogBookGuy, like theLogBook.com on Facebook, or contact me here.

Retrogram Podcast

  • Retrogram #8103: The Hawkman Cometh

    The week of January 12th, 1981: Hitchhikers, Hulk, Hawk, and Who, oh my!  Buck Rogers returns with a new feathered friend, the Doctor has a new furry friend, and the stories from behind the scenes reveal what a miracle it was that any of these shows made it to our screens.  (1:02:19) Right-click here and…

    https://www.thelogbook.com/podcast/retrogram/retrogram_8103.mp3

Don't Give This Tape To Earl

  • 501: The Apple Episode

    HGR2: You think I’m a pretty basic podcast host? Oh baby, I am totally a BASIC podcast host. It’s a memory core dump from the early days of Commodore PETs and the mighty Apple IIe-compatible Franklin ACE 1000, a journey back in time to the computers that made me fall in love with…well…computers. Also, the…

    https://www.thelogbook.com/podcast/thistape/this_tape_501_applesode.mp3

Now available in theLogBook.com Store!

Stuff I Blither About

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Latest YouTube Videos

A more thorough tour of a fully-terraformed Mars colony in Surviving Mars.  Lasts about 20 minutes, and I tried to take manual control of the camera angle less here, and just let the game show you everything in its own time.  I was about to track the whole thing with some Babylon 5 music, then I thought... nah.  Provide your own tunes.  Less hassle for me, more fun for you.  It's almost 20 minutes total.  Enjoy!
Surviving Mars - Terraformed Mars Montage II
YouTube Video UCQhbcY-vixBkryMO0UMZ5UQ__s3BkhVGqcc
We're gonna need a montage!  To celebrate the fact that I was today years old when I figured out that you could "follow" supply/personnel shuttles - automated things that you completely ignore in the game unless they're not working - I grabbed some video and put together a little montage.  (The music is not from the game itself; I did that music quite some time back.)


The game is Surviving Mars, with the Green Planet terraforming add-on, and I've fully terraformed the planet - at least my little corner of it.  The population of the colony is hovering at around 5,000, and it's self-sustaining enough that I can put the game in real-time mode and attach a "camera" to various shuttles as they do their thing and just fly over my creation.


I'll get back to demoing this game soon since I now have a setup that's much less prone to glitching/freezing video.
Surviving Mars - Terraformed Mars Montage
YouTube Video UCQhbcY-vixBkryMO0UMZ5UQ_T215KianU0k
Why would you go streaking in a video game?  Just...why?  Why is this game even here?  This game might just take the prize for being the weirdest "homage" to the Pac-Man format your host has ever seen.  Even his cat has things to say about it.


Phosphor Dot Fossils ( http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/​ ) is one of the web's oldest archives of vintage console, computer, and arcade games; there was also a 2-DVD documentary of the same name, covering the early history of video games, produced in 2008 and 2009 (now available for download at http://www.thelogbook.com/store/​ ).  And these days?  PDF aims to bring a more laid-back, less-caffeinated, less-profanity-spewing experience to the retro video game longplay video.

Check out my other projects and podcasts: eBooks "VWORP!1", "VWORP!2", "WARP!1" and "Fatherhood, Fandom, And Fading Out" available at http://www.thelogbook.com/store/​ and at Amazon!

Select Game: Expanded Memories of the Odyssey2 podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/selectgame/​

Retrogram podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/retrogram/​

Don't Give This Tape To Earl podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/thistape/​

theLogBook.com's Escape Pod daily mini-podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/podcast/​

And, of course, the site that started it all, combining sci-fi, retro video games, book, music and toy reviews, and all sorts of retro-futurist fun: http://www.thelogbook.com​

All of the above podcasts are available on iTunes and Stitcher. Want to support more projects like all of the above? Feel free to throw a few coins in the hat at http://www.patreon.com/thelogbook/​ or help rebuild the post-cross-country-move studio via our Amazon wish list at http://a.co/7oUbGgb​ - and many many thanks to everyone who has supported theLogBook.com's podcasting and videocasting endeavours!

The theme music is the "Phosphor Dot Fossils Theme" by Earl Green.
Phosphor Dot Fossils: Streaking (arcade, 1980)
YouTube Video UCQhbcY-vixBkryMO0UMZ5UQ_I2R-MBUDjr8
Robot City: for all your robot needs!  Or at least if you have need of a bunch of robots who are out to kill you dead at the first opportunity.  A really neat unreleased prototype from the European Videopac library (basically the Odyssey2).


Phosphor Dot Fossils ( http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/​ ) is one of the web's oldest archives of vintage console, computer, and arcade games; there was also a 2-DVD documentary of the same name, covering the early history of video games, produced in 2008 and 2009 (now available for download at http://www.thelogbook.com/store/​ ).  And these days?  PDF aims to bring a more laid-back, less-caffeinated, less-profanity-spewing experience to the retro video game longplay video.

Check out my other projects and podcasts: eBooks "VWORP!1", "VWORP!2", "WARP!1" and "Fatherhood, Fandom, And Fading Out" available at http://www.thelogbook.com/store/​ and at Amazon!

Select Game: Expanded Memories of the Odyssey2 podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/selectgame/​

Retrogram podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/retrogram/​

Don't Give This Tape To Earl podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/thistape/​

theLogBook.com's Escape Pod daily mini-podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/podcast/​

And, of course, the site that started it all, combining sci-fi, retro video games, book, music and toy reviews, and all sorts of retro-futurist fun: http://www.thelogbook.com​

All of the above podcasts are available on iTunes and Stitcher. Want to support more projects like all of the above? Feel free to throw a few coins in the hat at http://www.patreon.com/thelogbook/​ or help rebuild the post-cross-country-move studio via our Amazon wish list at http://a.co/7oUbGgb​ - and many many thanks to everyone who has supported theLogBook.com's podcasting and videocasting endeavours!

The theme music is the "Phosphor Dot Fossils Theme" by Earl Green.
Phosphor Dot Fossils: Robot City (Odyssey2/Videopac, 1983)
YouTube Video UCQhbcY-vixBkryMO0UMZ5UQ_8M4-9ILEmww
Sinistar: contains asteroids, crystals, worker ships, gunships, and one very hungry Sinistar.  He's so hungry.  He'll tell you so.  As he eats your ship in a single mechanical gulp.


Phosphor Dot Fossils ( http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/​ ) is one of the web's oldest archives of vintage console, computer, and arcade games; there was also a 2-DVD documentary of the same name, covering the early history of video games, produced in 2008 and 2009 (now available for download at http://www.thelogbook.com/store/​ ).  And these days?  PDF aims to bring a more laid-back, less-caffeinated, less-profanity-spewing experience to the retro video game longplay video.

Check out my other projects and podcasts: eBooks "VWORP!1", "VWORP!2", "WARP!1" and "Fatherhood, Fandom, And Fading Out" available at http://www.thelogbook.com/store/​ and at Amazon!

Select Game: Expanded Memories of the Odyssey2 podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/selectgame/​

Retrogram podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/retrogram/​

Don't Give This Tape To Earl podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/thistape/​

theLogBook.com's Escape Pod daily mini-podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/podcast/​

And, of course, the site that started it all, combining sci-fi, retro video games, book, music and toy reviews, and all sorts of retro-futurist fun: http://www.thelogbook.com​

All of the above podcasts are available on iTunes and Stitcher. Want to support more projects like all of the above? Feel free to throw a few coins in the hat at http://www.patreon.com/thelogbook/​ or help rebuild the post-cross-country-move studio via our Amazon wish list at http://a.co/7oUbGgb​ - and many many thanks to everyone who has supported theLogBook.com's podcasting and videocasting endeavours!

The theme music is the "Phosphor Dot Fossils Theme" by Earl Green.
Phosphor Dot Fossils: Sinistar (arcade, 1983)
YouTube Video UCQhbcY-vixBkryMO0UMZ5UQ_Qq-Jz8biImc
Wait, am I the UFO or are these other guys the UFOs?  Aren't we all UFOs in someone else's sky?  And was Magnavox trying to hump the leg of someone else's UFO?  I mean...aside from this being the Odyssey2's lovely near-beer version of Asteroids, that is.


Phosphor Dot Fossils ( http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/​ ) is one of the web's oldest archives of vintage console, computer, and arcade games; there was also a 2-DVD documentary of the same name, covering the early history of video games, produced in 2008 and 2009 (now available for download at http://www.thelogbook.com/store/​ ).  And these days?  PDF aims to bring a more laid-back, less-caffeinated, less-profanity-spewing experience to the retro video game longplay video.

Check out my other projects and podcasts: eBooks "VWORP!1", "VWORP!2", "WARP!1" and "Fatherhood, Fandom, And Fading Out" available at http://www.thelogbook.com/store/​ and at Amazon!

Select Game: Expanded Memories of the Odyssey2 podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/selectgame/​

Retrogram podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/retrogram/​

Don't Give This Tape To Earl podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/thistape/​

theLogBook.com's Escape Pod daily mini-podcast - http://www.thelogbook.com/podcast/​

And, of course, the site that started it all, combining sci-fi, retro video games, book, music and toy reviews, and all sorts of retro-futurist fun: http://www.thelogbook.com​

All of the above podcasts are available on iTunes and Stitcher. Want to support more projects like all of the above? Feel free to throw a few coins in the hat at http://www.patreon.com/thelogbook/​ or help rebuild the post-cross-country-move studio via our Amazon wish list at http://a.co/7oUbGgb​ - and many many thanks to everyone who has supported theLogBook.com's podcasting and videocasting endeavours!

The theme music is the "Phosphor Dot Fossils Theme" by Earl Green.
Phosphor Dot Fossils: UFO! (Odyssey2/Videopac, 1981)
YouTube Video UCQhbcY-vixBkryMO0UMZ5UQ_o8joirIoy6M
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On this day...

  • 2012: The mountain that vanished and the plane that never returned — In recent weeks, for no readily apparent reason, I have become almost obsessively fascinated with the worst air disaster in [...]
  • 2008: PDF: The DVD – coming in one week! — Well, I bet you weren’t expecting to hear that. Next Saturday at the Oklahoma Electronic Gaming Expo in Oklahoma [...]
  • 2006: Another local weather myth. — With the 1996 Fort Smith tornado very much on my mind, and having recently re-read my “tornado diary,” I thought [...]
  • 2003: Game Room Remodeling Diary, Episode 5 — What a day, what a day. Cancelled a planned afternoon of thrifting because I got a call from work that [...]

Recent Mumblings

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